After suffering their first loss of the season, the Cowboys look to rebound this week with a pair of games in Ruston.

McNeese State (4-1) will play two games in a multi-team event starting today at Louisiana Tech.

It will be the second time in a week McNeese will play back-to-back games, something head coach Will Wade said he likes to do to prepare his clubs for tournament play.

“It’s good they learn how to have quick turnarounds, like you have in your conference tournaments in March,” Wade explained. “It shows how you have to take care of your body and prepare for an opponent with little time.”

The Cowboys won their first four games for the first time since 1972 before losing 76-74 Saturday at undefeated Western Carolina. McNeese had a shot to win it at the buzzer, but Antavion Collum’s 3-pointer fell short.

The Cowboys rallied from 10 points down to tie the score at 74 with 32 seconds remaining.

“We gave ourselves a chance but our defense was very poor most of the game,” said Wade, who served the fifth of a 10-game NCAA suspension. “When you play good teams you have to be dialed in or they will take advantage of it.”

Transfer Shahada Wells finished with a career-high 37 points. Wells played all 40 minutes and bettered his previous career best of 31 when he played at Texas-Arlington in 2021.

“(Wells) is capable of putting up big nights,” Wade said. “He is a really good player who can score big when he needs to. I think you will see that some nights this year from him.”

Now the Cowboys will look to get back to their winning ways in Ruston against Texas State at noon today before playing host Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

“We are going to be playing two very physical teams with strong front lines,” Wade said. “They are big and can hurt you on the offensive boards. If we don’t check out it will be a long couple of games.

“We are not very big and this will be a huge, huge challenge for our front line.”

Wells leads a usually balanced offense with 18.2 points a game and is one of four Cowboys averaging in double figures. The Cowboys are hitting 52.7 percent of their shots from the floor and 42.3 percent (41 of 97), taking almost 20 a game.

Wells and D.J. Richards have led the way, connecting on half of the 36 3-pointers they have attempted. Forward Christian Shumate is shy of averaging a double-double at 11.8 points and 9.6 rebounds an outing.

The Cowboys have shown they know what to do with the basketball. They have assisted on 78 of their 173 made field goals and have turned the ball over 42 times, an average of 8.4 a game.

The Bobcats (2-2) will likely try to slow the Cowboys’ up-tempo pace. They have turned the ball over 64 times in their four games while forcing 89 in their five games.

Forward Tyrel Morgan leads Texas State at 14 points a game but has not played in the last two.

On Wednesday, McNeese will take on Tech (2-1) in what is expected to be a more up-tempo battle. Both teams are averaging more than 80 points a game.

Jaylin Henderson comes off the bench to lead the Bulldogs in scoring at 17.3 a game while Isaiah Crawford is right behind at 17.

After Tech the Cowboys will take the rest of the week off before playing another road game against a mid-major when they travel to play the Blazers of Alabama-Birmingham on Nov. 28. They will return home the following Saturday for a game with Tennessee-Martin.