The Cowboys will spend their pre-Thanksgiving weekend doing a little island hooping against some pretty solid competition.

Coming off a grinding 68-61 victory over North Texas last Monday in the Legacy Center, McNeese State will look to gain more experience and rhythm at this year’s Paradise Jam Tournament.

The eight-team, four-day event will take place on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands starting Friday. McNeese will play the second opening day game at 2 p.m. Lake Charles time against Illinois State (3-1) out of the Missouri Valley Conference.

The winner will play Sunday against the Alabama-Birmingham vs. Longwood contest winner. The two losers will meet Saturday.

The championship game is set for Monday.

“It is a great opportunity to play against some really good teams,” McNeese head coach Will Wade said. “Every team there is a good team. It will be a bunch of close games.

“This is a well-established tournament that’s been around a long time. Every team plays a different style. This is what you want, to play against different teams from all over who play different styles. A great experience for us.”

Also Friday, Louisiana-Lafayette will play Liberty and George Washington takes on Kansas State in the other bracket.

The Cowboys (2-2) will face an Illinois State team that has won its last three games after dropping its season opener to Tennessee-Martin.

The Redbirds are coming off a 107-52 victory over NAIA Trinity Christian, making 20 of 40 3-pointers. They have hit 29 of 60 from long range over their last two games.

ISU is a completely different type of team than North Texas, which is one of the most physical teams the Cowboys will play.

“A totally different type of team,” said Wade. “They will be a big challenge for us to try and guard their shooters and play against their pace.”

The Redbirds average 30 3-point attempts a game, making 11.5. Freshman Jake Daugherty had 28 points in the route.

“He can really shoot the ball,” ISU head coach Ryan Pedon. “Every time it goes up you feel it is going to go in. He is very confident.”

McNeese has had to do some shuffling in its rotation lately. Starting point guard Alyn Breed is out until January with a knee injury according to Wade. 

Breed, a transfer from Providence, leads the Cowboys in scoring at 17.5 points a game but has been limited to just two games with the injury.

In his absence, Omar Cooper, last season’s starter, and Quadir Copeland, a transfer from Syracuse, will be expected to step up their play. Copeland had 11 points and five rebounds against UNT.

“I can’t say enough about Copeland,” said Wade. “He has had a tough couple of weeks. He came up big when we needed him.”

So did Sincere Parker, who hit for 18 points in the latest victory. Parker is averaging 15.5 points and has shown an ability to take over games at times. 

“We are really looking forward to this tournament and playing some big teams,” Parker said. “You want to play in games like this.”

With the injuries, McNeese has not been able to really set a consistent rotation in the early going, something Wade hopes to be able to do during his time at the tourney.

“We just haven’t been able to get into a rhythm yet,” said Wade. “That’s what I’m looking forward to, establishing a flow and the type of team we are going to be.”

All games from the Paradise Jam are set to be streamed live on ESPN+.

“This is another good chance to get exposure for our program and university,” said Wade.

And he hopes to pick up some quality wins as well.