Cowboys

McNeese State Cowboys
General Information
NCAA Division: Division I
Conference: Southland Conference
Past Conferences: Gulf States Conference
City: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Arena: The Legacy Center
NCAA Tournaments: 2 (1989, 2002)
Championships
National Championships: 0
Conference Titles: 6 (1975, 1978, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2011)
Team History
McNeese State lists its first year of competition as occurring in the 1943-44 season, at a time when some schools were shutting down their programs due to World War II. The Cowboys were pretty strong from the start, with head coach Wayne Cusic posting a 124-58 record between 1945 and 1952.
Ralph O. Ward took over the program for the 1952-53 season and led the Cowboys to the NAIA championship in 1955-56. It was their only appearance in the NAIA Tournament. The Cowboys had a bit of a postseason drought before getting to the 1968 NCAA Division II Tournament, where they lost both games. Ward remained coach until the end of the 1970-71 season.
McNeese State made the jump to Division I for the 1972-73 season and had some decent teams, winning the conference regular season in 1975 and 1978, but the Cowboys couldn’t get the conference tournament win. McNeese State received an invite to the NIT in 1986 and in 1989, finally got the elusive conference tournament win and their first opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Cowboys returned to the NIT in 2001 and made their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament the following season. McNeese State returned to the NIT in 2011 and made its last postseason appearance in the 2012 CIT.
McNeese State Cowboys All-Time Records
Points Scored
Joe Dumars, 2,612
Edmund Lawrence, 1,986
Demond Mallett, 1,941
Rebounds
Edmund Lawrence, 1,212
John Rudd,1,181
David Lawrence, 1,026
Assists
Girard Harmon, 440
Kevin Hardy, 430
David Green, 387