Needing a win, and help, the Cowboys enter tonight’s regular-season finale in a desperate situation.

In order to make the postseason Southland Conference Tournament, which will be played next week in Lake Charles, McNeese State must first beat New Orleans when the teams tip off at 7:30 p.m. at the Legacy Center.

Then the Cowboys (8-22, 5-12 SLC) will need both Lamar and Incarnate Word to lose. Only then can they claim the eighth and final tournament berth. UIW is at Northwestern State while Lamar travels to Nicholls State.

McNeese is tied with Lamar for ninth, a game behind UIW. The Cowboys own the tiebreaker over Incarnate Word but not Lamar.

A loss and McNeese will not only set a single-season program record for most losses but also initiate an offseason of likely changes.

“This is a huge game we need to win and we need some things to happen away from here as well,” McNeese head coach John Aiken said. “We need to get some help from our new friends.”

In the first meeting between the teams on Feb. 11 in New Orleans, the Cowboys rallied from 22 points down early in the second half to win 79-78 on a Harwin Francois 3-pointer in the closing seconds. Christian Summit led McNeese with 21 points.

Since then, UNO (10-18, 7-10) hasn’t lost, winning four straight.

“New Orleans is really hot,” Aiken said. “They are back to playing their game.”

UNO will have Jordan Johnson back this time. He missed the first game with an injury. Johnson is third in the SLC in scoring at 17.3 points a game but was out with an injury for five contests.

Meanwhile, McNeese will be out without point guard Trae English for a third consecutive game. English is out for the season with a knee injury. The Cowboys will again be down to seven scholarship players available for the game.

That has left Aiken with few options and the team with little room for error. McNeese is on a three-game losing streak after having won three straight.

“The guys that we have will show up and play hard,” Aiken said. “Our compete factor is really high.”