Finally, McNeese State will begin to defend its Southland Conference championship.

Saturday, the Cowboys open league play against New Orleans at 4 p.m. in the Legacy Center.

The Cowboys are the last team to start SLC play. At 6-5 overall, they are the heavy favorite to repeat as champs for the first time in program history. UNO enters 2-9, 0-1.

On Monday, McNeese will host Southeastern (6-6, 0-1), which has not played in 10 days when it meets the Cowboys.

“They have had a long time to get ready for us,” said McNeese head coach Will Wade. 

Southeastern was the only Southland team to beat the Cowboys last season. They rolled to a 17-1 league record and won 21 of their last 22 home games.

“They have played a brutal nonconference schedule,” said Wade. “It has been tough to watch and get a lot out of their films because of that.”

UNO played well against Nicholls in their only league game and was within one at LSU earlier in the season. Now, they can knock off the conference favorite right away.

The Cowboys know they are the big game on everybody’s schedule from here on out. 

“This year, we have a much bigger target on our backs,” said McNeese senior Javohn Garcia. “We are going to get everybody’s best every time out. We know that.”

But the Cowboys are ready.

“This is what we have been waiting for,” said Garcia. “We want to repeat.”

Now, they get their chance, starting with the Privateers. They have played a tough schedule, with only one home game. They were forced to play money games on the road to fund the season.

New Orleans is led by forward James White, who leads the league in both scoring and rebounding. The senior transfer averages 19.1 points and 7.7 boards over the Privateers’ first 11 games.

“James is a really talented player,” said Wade. “He plays physically. He has always been able to score and they get him the ball in a position where he can score.” 

The Cowboys saw White last year when he was at Alabama-Birmingham. In 10 minutes of play, White finished with three points and two rebounds as McNeese beat the Blazers 81-60 in Birmingham, AL. He transferred to UNO over the summer after starting his career at Ole Miss.

“You don’t go to the SEC unless you have talent,” said Wade. “We have to watch him, he can drive and he can shoot.”

McNeese, which has been struggling with its offense, hopes to find some points against a New Orleans defense that gives up an average of just over 82 points a game, the highest in the Southland.

They will need to shoot the ball better from a distance to do that. In their last game against Louisiana-Lafayette, McNeese was just 1 of 16 on 3-point tries. The Cowboys are hitting just 69 of 231 (29.9%) from long range, which puts them in the bottom 11 percent of the nation.

McNeese is ranked No. 316 out of 355 Division I teams.

“We could not shoot much worse,” said Wade. “We will keep working on it.”

Fortunately for the Cowboys, their defense has been good. They allow only 67 points a game, keeping them in every contest. 

The Cowboys are led by Sincere Parker, one of three players scoring in double figures. Parker had 22, 20 in the second half during McNeese’s most recent win over Louisiana-Lafayette last Sunday. 

Parker is averaging 16.2 a game, while Christian Shumate (11.1) and Garcia (10.2) are also in double digits.

McNeese will be looking to win its 19th straight home game in SLC play and 22nd in its last 23 overall.

“I think the fresh start in the league is just what we need to get going,” said DJ Richards. “We have been getting ready for this.”

Ready or not, the league is finally here.