Wade Recaps Weekend, Previews Conference Weekend

The McNeese Cowboys are coming down the final stretch of Southland Conference Play and Will Wade sat down with the media on Wednesday to recap the wins over New Orleans and Southeastern over the weekend and to preview the upcoming conference weekend stretch..

Over the weekend, the Cowboys were able to pick up wins over both New Orleans and Southeastern, but neither was a cakewalk, to say the least...

“I thought New Orleans played really well. Their big man, Thomas, really hurt us inside. He had 17 rebounds against Nicholls before facing us," Wade said.

The Southeastern game was a battle of momentum swings. McNeese jumped out to a fast start—a focus point for Wade.

“When you play a good team on the road, you’ve got to get off to a great start,” Wade explained. “We were able to do that, but Southeastern made their runs. They had guys step up and hit shots, but we withstood that and found a way to get enough stops.”

While McNeese built a 17-point lead, they allowed Southeastern to creep back into the game—a pattern Wade knows they must fix.

“The 17-point lead was a good sign. Letting them back into it wasn’t. We’ve got to turn those leads into 25-point advantages, not let them shrink to three or four points.”

With the wins over Southeastern and New Orleans, the Cowboys have secured a double-bye in the conference tournament, but Head Coach Will Wade is focused on the next step—locking up the No. 1 seed. If the Cowboys win both games this weekend, they’ll secure the No. 1 spot heading into the conference tournament.

“We didn’t even know we had the double-bye until Jim (Jim Gazzolo - Lake Charles American Press) told us after the game,” Wade joked. “First, you want to qualify for the tournament. Then you want the double-bye. Now, we want to be the No. 1 seed and win the whole damn thing.”

For McNeese moving forward, each opponent the Cowboys face is fighting for their tournament seeding. “Everybody’s chasing a seed. We’re going to get their best shot,” Wade said. “We’ve got to control what we can control—winning games.”

Now, the focus shifts to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV, two teams still fighting for their seeding. Corpus has given McNeese trouble in recent years, with the Cowboys narrowly escaping with a one-point win in their first matchup this season in Corpus.

“Corpus has played us as well as anyone in the league,” Wade said. “They’re tough, they’re physical, and they’ve got a great coach.” He expects Saturday’s game in Lake Charles to feel like a playoff atmosphere. “It’ll be a conference tournament-type game. They’ve been banged up, but I expect them to be at full strength.”

One of McNeese’s biggest challenges will be limiting Corpus Christi’s star players. “Roberts hurt us last time with threes, and Clark always plays well against us,” Wade said. “We’ve got to be better at defending one-on-one and keeping them from driving into the paint.”