A year after McNeese became a March Madness Cinderella under his former boss Will Wade, Bill Armstrong has coached the Southland Conference program to a historic season.
Last week, the Cowboys beat Stephen F. Austin in the Southland Tournament title game to become the conference’s first team to three-peat as league champs in 10 years. McNeese (28-5) received a No. 12 seed in the South Region and begins NCAA Tournament play on Thursday against fifth-seeded Vanderbilt (26-8) in Oklahoma City.
The Cowboys are the first Southland program to earn a No. 12 seed in three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Last season, they notched the program’s first win in the Big Dance with an opening-round upset of fifth-seeded Clemson before losing to Purdue – and seeing Wade leave Lake Charles for NC State.
“I’m almost speechless about it,” Armstrong tells Hoops HQ about this season. “I haven’t really taken it all in yet.”
It’s been quite a ride for the Bayou Bandits and Armstrong, who worked five of his 20-plus seasons as a college coach under Wade at LSU before both were fired in 2022 for alleged recruiting violations. The former UAB team captain was cleared of all charges in 2023, soon after coaching Missouri’s Link Academy to the GEICO Nationals championship in the first of his two seasons there.
Armstrong, a 48-year-old Alabama native, spent last season at Baylor before getting hired by McNeese to replace Wade last March. Wade guided the Cowboys to a combined 58-11 record, including a 36-2 conference mark, and a pair of Southland regular-season and league tourney titles in his two seasons with the program. Prior to Wade’s tenure, the school hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2002.
Over the past three years, McNeese has gone 86-16. Their winning percentage of 84.3 is the third-best nationally during that stretch, behind only Duke (86.2 percent) and Houston (85.6 percent). Only Duke (95), Houston (94) and UConn (90) have more wins than the Cowboys over the timeframe.
“McNeese has staying power because of the tremendous support given from the administration and great coaching by Bill,” Wade tells Hoops HQ. “Everyone in the community is all in, and Bill has continued the momentum.”
This season, McNeese won at least 28 games for the third straight year and finished second in the Southland regular-season standings at 19-3 despite returning only seniors Javohn Garcia and DJ Richards Jr. The Cowboys split their two regular-season matchups with SFA, which was 28-6 overall and 20-2 in the league.
As the Southland’s No. 2 seed, McNeese received a double bye in the conference tournament. The Cowboys held off UTRGV in a triple-overtime semifinal thriller before rolling to a 76-59 win over SFA in the title game. They’re the first Southland program to three-peat as conference tourney champions since SFA did it from 2013 to 2016.
Expectations remained high this season for the Cowboys despite Wade’s departure and heavy personnel losses. They lost multiple players to the transfer portal, including double-digit scoring guards Sincere Parker (Memphis) and Quadir Copeland (NC State).
This season, McNeese has 10 players averaging double-digit minutes for a squad that’s scoring 80 points per game. The new-look team is second nationally with 10.5 steals per game and 24th in scoring defense, allowing only 66.5 points a contest.
“We are aggressive,” says Armstrong, who recently agreed to a new five-year extension with the Cowboys. “Our motto is protect the paint, attack the paint.”
Leading the attack is Creighton transfer Larry Johnson, who averages 17.5 points per game. Uber-athletic and physical, the 6-foot-4 guard earned first-team all-league honors and was the Southland’s Freshman of the Year. The former four-star recruit sat out last season at Creighton after being suspended for violating team rules.
The Cowboys have another first-team all-league player in Tulsa transfer Tyshawn Archie. The 6-foot-1 junior is second in the conference with 56 steals and the team’s No. 2 scorer at 14.3 points per game while shooting 37.4 percent from three-point range.
A 6-foot-5 junior, Garwey Dual landed on the Southland’s All-Defensive Team after ranking third in the conference with 55 steals and fifth in assists (4.3 per game). The Houston native, who previously played at Seton Hall and Providence, also averages 8.2 points per game.
“They came here to get better and to win, and that’s what they’ve done,” Armstrong says of Johnson, Archie and Dual. “Larry scores so much, and Ty is so dynamic, but Garwey is the most efficient player in the conference when you look at the analytic stuff.”
Garcia, last season’s Southland Player of the Year and conference tournament MVP, started for the third straight season. The 6-foot-3 senior averages a team-high 29.4 minutes and is third in the league in steals per game (1.8) while scoring 12 points a contest and shooting 37.3 percent from deep.
Originally from Ohio, Garcia saved his best for the Southland Tournament as he scored a career-high 31 points in the win over SFA to repeat as conference tourney MVP. He has scored more than 2,000 career points including his three seasons with the Cowboys, two years at UMass and one season for College of the Sequoias in California.
A part-time starter this season, Richards is second on the team with 59 made three-pointers (on 35.5-percent shooting beyond the arc) and fourth in scoring at 8.3 points per game. The 6-foot-4 senior’s 41.3-percent shooting from three-point range is second in school history, and he’s scored more than 1,300 career points, including his three years with the Cowboys and one season at UTSA.
“They made a major sacrifice to come back, and they’ve left a legacy here,” Armstrong says of Garcia and Richards, who have the most wins (86) in program history. “They both deserve to have their jerseys retired for what they’ve done for this program and the city of Lake Charles.”
Armstrong, who has a team dinner at his home every Sunday night, is enjoying every moment of the opportunity to replace his dear friend at McNeese.
“It’s been a joy to follow my brother and friend Will here and uphold the standard that he’s set,” Armstrong says. “We have a great group of players and coaches and tremendous support from our administration and community, so it’s been a lot of fun.
“I couldn’t have written a better story.”
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