After gaining even greater national attention thanks to their win at Michigan, the Cowboys returned to work this week in preparation for Southland Conference play.

McNeese State begins its quest for the program’s first league regular-season title since 2011 Saturday at Texas A&M-Commerce.

“It will be a brand new season and we will have to re-establish ourselves,” said head coach Will Wade. “We have to reset our identity. Everybody will be coming after us.”

The Cowboys will enter the conference as the clear frontrunners after starting the season 11-2 and riding a six-game winning streak. They have seven nonconference Division I victories for the first time in program history and are racing up mid-major polls.

On Tuesday they were named the National Team of the Week by basketball guru Dick Vitale. All this after an 87-76 domination of Michigan last week – the first victory by McNeese over a Big Ten foe – got the attention of the rest of college basketball.

“It means a lot for our program, for our fans, our school, and our community,” said Wade of the victory over the Wolverines. “It is great attention for our program and confirms that all the hard work we have done is paying off.”

The victory was the first ever by McNeese over a Big Ten team and third against a Power 5 program. It was also just the ninth time a team from the Southland beat a Big Ten school.

Also Tuesday, Shahada Wells was named the top player in the Southland Conference for the second time in a month. Wells earned his second Player of the Week award after his big game last Friday at Michigan.

He also was selected as the Lute Olson National Player of the Week and for the second time as well the top honor from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Wells, a graduate transfer from TCU, led the Pokes to their biggest win perhaps in program history against the Wolverines.

The 6-foot guard finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and five steals. He is the first player to record at least 30-10-5-5 since LSU’s Ben Simmons did so in 2015.

Wells is the first to pull that off against a high-major opponent since 2011.

Wells finished hitting on 9-of-19 shots from the field and 11-of-13 from the free throw line.

“Just doing what I do,” said Wells. “The team trusts me to go in there and make plays.”

Wells has the attention of his head coach.

“Shahada was phenomenal,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. “He does what we need from him at that time.”

It was the third time Wells had scored 30 points or more in a game. He had a career-high 37 in a two-point loss at Western Carolina and 36 in a victory at Alabama-Birmingham.

Wells leads McNeese in scoring at 19.4 points a game.

Wells is the first Southland player this year to earn the POW honor twice. His teammate, DJ Richards, won the honor two weeks earlier. Richards had 15 against Michigan.

Wells won his first POW on Dec. 4.