BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's basketball team (16-15/10-10 SLC) is making a return to the Southland Conference Championships for a fourth consecutive season. Winners of four of their last six games, the Cardinals enter the tournament as the league's No. 6 overall seed and will face No. 7 seed, and rival, McNeese, the team Big Red closed out the regular season against.
 
Despite finishing the regular season strong, Big Red stumbled in its final two games of the season falling at regular-season champion Stephen F. Austin and then at home on a buzzer beater to McNeese (a game that saw LU rally from 18 points down in the first half).
 
The Cowboys (15-16/10-10 SLC) are making their first trip to the conference's postseason tournament since the 2015-16 season. McNeese has had a roller coaster season in 2019-20. After winning seven straight to jump to third in the league standings, the Cowboys dropped their next seven games nearly falling out of the league's top eight. McNeese recovered winning three of their final four including two games where they scored more than 100 points.
 
The Cardinals are making their 19^th appearance in the SLC Championships. Big Red enters the 2020 tournament looking to win its fifth title and make its seventh appearance in the NCAA Championships. The rest of the tournament field consists of No. 1 Stephen F. Austin, second-seed Abilene Christian, third-seed Nicholls, fourth-seeded Sam Houston State, No. 5 seed Northwestern State, McNeese is the seven and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi rounds out the field as the eighth overall seed.
 
The Cardinals have had a great deal of success in their opening round games at the SLC tournament. The Cards are 14-4 (.778) all-time in those contests. The 2020 tournament marks the fourth time LU has entered the postseason at the league's sixth overall seed. Big Red is a combined 3-3 (.500) at the tournament when playing as the sixth seed.
 
If the Cardinals get past McNeese in the opening round, it would set up a second round game against the third-seeded Colonels (21-10/15-5 SLC). That game would also tip off at 7:30 p.m. from the Montagne Center.
 
Wednesday's game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip off from the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas. The game will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI. It will also be streamed live on ESPN+. Tickets for the Southland Conference Championships are still available, and can be purchased through the LU Ticket Office by calling (409) 880-1715, or by clicking HERE.