It has been 26 days since the Cowboys last played a home game.

During that near month they have traveled from Florida to Seattle and points in between looking to find some consistency. But five losses in six games have shown there is still work to be done.

Today McNeese State returns to play just its third home game of the season, hosting Dallas Christian in Burton Coliseum. Tip time for the game is set for 4 p.m. with the goal being to keep improving.

“It will be nice just to get home, to play at Burton,” head coach John Aiken said. “I knew when we put this schedule together that it would be a gauntlet, but I just felt like it would be before for us to be on the road more to start with.”

After McNeese (3-8) plays at home, the Cowboys will head back on the road to Kansas State.

“Really hope we can build on last night and get some momentum heading into the game at Kansas State,” said Aiken. “We found some things to build on.”

McNeese lost to Texas-El Paso 82-72 Thursday night despite leading most of the game. They were only down by one with just over three minutes remaining.

The Miners went on a 13-4 run to put the game away.

“It was our best 37 minutes of basketball, I thought,” said Aiken. “I thought the last couple of minutes got away from us and we made a couple of crucial mistakes.

“It was about as connected as a team as we have been. We had more attention to detail. I’m happy with how we are going.”

It was the first night of McNeese’s new rotation and without guard TJ Moss, who left the team.

Myles Lewis (10.7) and Brendan Medley-Bacon (10.1) are the only two Cowboys averaging in double digits this season. Medley-Bacon also leads the team in rebounds at 6.5 a game.

Dallas Christian is just 2-14 if you count all games including exhibitions. McNeese beat the Crusaders 140-37 last year.