BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University will head east for Lake Charles, La., Saturday for its annual rivalry with McNeese. There is a lot on the line when the Cardinals and Cowboys step on the court at Burton Coliseum for the regular-season finale. Big Red is hoping to jump to the fourth seed for next week's Southland Conference Championship tournament, while McNeese is fighting for their playoff lives.
 
The Cardinals (19-11/11-6 SLC) enter the week fifth in the Southland standings just a half a game up on New Orleans – who finished off its regular season Wednesday – and a game back of Sam Houston State. Big Red can still finish anywhere from the No. 4 seed all the way down to the six. If the Cardinals can defeat McNeese they will do no worse than fifth in the conference tournament. An LU win combined with a Sam Houston loss (SHSU hosts Stephen F. Austin Saturday) would give them the fourth seed, and a first-round bye in the tournament. A loss Saturday would drop the Red and White to sixth due to the tiebreaker with UNO.
 
The Cowboys (10-17/7-10 SLC) enter the final game of the 2017-18 regular season needing some help. They are currently in a three-way tie for eighth in the standings with Abilene Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. For the Cowboys to earn the eighth and final playoff spot they need to defeat LU and have either ACU or the Islanders lose. If all three teams end the year in a tie, the Cowboys would be left out of the playoff mix.
 
In addition to playing for a better seed, the Cardinals are also looking for their 20^th win of the season. LU travels to McNeese looking to improve on a 19-win campaign. If the Cardinals can secure a win at Burton Coliseum Saturday it would be the team's first 20-win season since the 20011-12 campaign that saw the Red and White advance to the NCAA Championships. The Cardinals also needed to defeat McNeese in the regular-season finale that season to lock up its 20^th win of the year.
 
The most important item that will be up for grabs on Saturday will be bragging rights. Although the Cardinals lead the all-time series, 55-47 (.539), McNeese had been closing the gap rapidly until the arrival of head coach Tic Price. Prior to Price's arrival, the Cowboys had won 13 of the previous 19 meetings, but the Cardinals have now won three straight and four of the past five. The Cardinals head to Lake Charles looking for their fourth consecutive win in the series for the first time since the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons.
 
The two schools prepare for the showdown shooting almost identically from the field. The Cardinals are connecting on 43.8 percent of their shots, while McNeese is shooting at a 43.3 percent clip. It is a very similar story from three-point range with the Cardinals owning a slight edge there as well.
 
The first meeting between the two teams came right down to the wire and the Cardinals managed to pull out a six-point victory. McNeese shot better than 49 percent from the field and 45 percent from beyond the arc, outshooting LU in both categories, but the Cardinals had a distinct advantage on the glass. The Cards outrebounded McNeese by 10, 38-28, including 10 offensive rebounds. The Cardinals also got the job done at the free throw line in the first meeting converting 77 percent of its free throws.
 
Senior Colton Weisbrod continues to lead the team in scoring and rebounds averaging better than 15 points and eight rebounds per game, but it has been the play of junior Nick Garth that has taken center stage over the course of the past five games. During that stretch, Garth is averaging better than 20 points per game.
 
Saturday's game at McNeese will tip off at 3:30 p.m. from Burton Coliseum. It can be heard live on Newstalk 560 KLVI.
 
-LU CARDINALS-