First-seeded McNeese punched its ticket to the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament Wednesday night, completing one of the most significant one-year turnarounds in men’s college basketball history in the process.
The Cowboys did not trail against third-seeded Nicholls, corralling the Colonels 92-76 in the in the tournament final of the 2024 Jersey Mike’s Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Explore Louisiana.
McNeese torched the nets before cutting them down in its postgame celebration, posting a 61% figure from the field while making 11-of-20 shots from three.
"Part of the formula for winning in the tournament was today. We made a ton of threes, we shot it at a high clip," head coach Will Wade said. "We've shown that we can do that in big moments which is what that's going to be in March.
Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) earned most-valuable-player honors for the tournament, finishing with 27 points on six-of-11 shooting and six assists.
"I've coached a lot of very good players," Wade said. "I've never had my best player be my best leader and my best worker until I had him."
Javohn Garcia (6'3''-SG) and DJ Richards (6'4''-SG) were both named to the all-tournament team.
Garcia tallied 19 points on six-of-nine from the field while Richards shot a scorching four-of-six from three and scored 16 points, spearheading a 27-10 edge for the Cowboys off the bench.
The win secures McNeese’s third SLC tournament championship and the program’s first since 2002.
The regular season and tournament champion of the SLC extends its single-season wins record to 30. That total results in a 19-win improvement for the Cowboys, tying a college basketball record.
Wade's role in the turnaround helped him become the sixth head coach in SLC history to win the conference tournament in his first season with a team. He is the second McNeese coach to accomplish that feat (Tic Price, 2002).
"We wanted to finish this thing off. There's only one way to finish off right and that was getting to the NCAA Tournament," Wade said. "Just to see the guys and how happy they are. That's why you do it."
McNeese returns to the "Big Dance" for the first time since that 2002 season when it fell to Mississippi State 70-58 in an opening round contest.

Courtesy of southland.org

Southland Conf. Tournament Final: McNeese - Nicholls 92-76

Southland Conf. Tournament Semifinals:
McNeese - Lamar 76-57
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - Nicholls 73-81

Southland Conf. Tournament Quarterfinals:
Nicholls - Texas A&M-Commerce 72-51
Lamar - New Orleans 71-57

Southland Conf. Tournament First Round:
Texas A&M-Commerce - Northwestern State 69-64
New Orleans - Southeastern 78-66

All-Tournament MVP: Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) of McNeese St.
Player of the Year: Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) of McNeese St.
Defensive Player of the Year: Christian Shumate (6'6''-F) of McNeese St.
Freshman of the Year: Dominic Capriotti (6'3''-G) of HCU
Newcomer of the Year: Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) of McNeese St.
Coach of the Year: Will Wade of McNeese St.

All-Southland Conf. First Team 2024

Wells

Shumate

Clark

Caldwell

Smith

First Team
Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) of McNeese St.
Christian Shumate (6'6''-F) of McNeese St.
Garry Clark (6'8''-F) of TAMUCC
Nick Caldwell (6'7''-G/F) of SE Louisiana
Diante Smith (6'7''-F-2000) of Nicholls St.

All-Southland Conf. Second Team 2024

Pryor

West

Anderson

Johnson

McFarlane

Second Team
Chris Pryor (5'11''-PG) of Lamar
Jamal West (6'6''-F) of Nicholls St.
Terry Anderson (6'6''-F) of Lamar
Jordan Johnson (6'1''-G) of New Orleans
Roger McFarlane (6'5''-G) of SE Louisiana

Southland Conf. All-Defensive Team 2024

Shumate

Humphrey

Wells

West

Forte

All-Defensive Team
Christian Shumate (6'6''-F) of McNeese St.
Marion Humphrey (6'3''-G) of TAMUCC
Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) of McNeese St.
Jamal West (6'6''-F) of Nicholls St.
Chase Forte (6'4''-G) of NSU

Southland Conf. All-Tournament Team 2024

Wells

Garcia

Richards

Smith

All-Tournament Team
Shahada Wells (6'0''-SG-1999) of McNeese St.
Javohn Garcia (6'3''-SG) of McNeese St.
DJ Richards (6'4''-SG) of McNeese St.
Diante Smith (6'7''-F-2000) of Nicholls St.