McNeese Men’s Basketball Opens Season with Upset Win over VCU
RICHMOND, Va. (KPLC) - The McNeese Men’s Basketball team entered their 2023-24 season opener at VCU as 10.5 point underdogs, and without their new Head Coach Will Wade, as he served the first game of his 10-game suspension, but it didn’t look like the Pokes were the underdogs.
After trailing 6-3 four minutes into the game, DJ Richards hit a three to tie the game up at six, and then about 40 seconds later Christian Shumate made a layup to give McNeese the lead, and from then on the Pokes never let VCU tie it up, or take the lead.
Led by 23 points from Shahada Wells, who transferred to McNeese from TCU before the season began, McNeese went on to beat VCU 76-65, marking the first time McNeese had beaten a Division I opponent on the road to begin a season since 1995-96 when they opened their season with an 83-81 overtime win over Houston.
| PLAYER | MINUTES | FG | 3PT | FT | PTS | REB | AST | BLK | STL | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shahada Wells | 34 | 8-18 | 1-4 | 6-9 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Christian Shumate | 32 | 7-13 | 1-1 | 3-6 | 18 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| DJ Richards Jr. | 38 | 6-9 | 5-6 | 0-0 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Javohn Garcia | 31 | 3-10 | 0-1 | 3-5 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Antavion Collum | 32 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Omar Cooper | 14 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cameron Jones | 17 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Roberts Berze | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 200 | 27-59 | 8-17 | 14-22 | 76 | 34 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 5 |
The Pokes now travel back to Lake Charles for their home opener against the College of Biblical Studies on Friday at 4:00.
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