Maybe the road is where the heart is for McNeese State.

The Cowboys (6-7, 0-2 Southland) have lost their last four games at Burton Coliseum, but lumped in the middle of that slump is their most impressive win of the season, a 66-47 road shellacking of Mississippi State.

So while the Cowboys are staring eyeball to eyeball with an 0-3 start in conference, perhaps a visit to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-7, 1-0) tonight is just what they needed.

“The biggest thing going into the rest of the season is intensity,” said Cowboys guard Kevin Hardy. “We came out a little flat (against Houston Baptist). We had a lot of flat possessions and were really flat on defense. We want to come out strong.”

McNeese does not return home until Jan. 20, also visiting Sam Houston State a week from today.

“We definitely can’t be winless in conference when we come back to play at Burton,” Hardy said. “But we have to take it one game at a time on the road against two good opponents.”

The Cowboys will not face the Islanders on their true homecourt. Due to a conflict at the American Bank Center — the heated hockey rivalry between the Corpus Christi IceRays and the Odessa Jackalopes — the game will be played at the on-campus Duggan Wellness Center.

A&M-Corpus Christi has won three straight over McNeese and hasn’t lost to the Cowboys at home since Jan. 7, 2012.

“They’ve been very good at home,” said McNeese coach Dave Simmons. “We’ve got to get the loss to Houston Baptist back with a road win.”

This is Corpus Christi’s only time playing at its alternate home site this season.

For McNeese, the key to success is pretty simple — improve on its 32.7 percent shooting from the field in its game against HBU. It was the third-worst shooting game of the season behind losses to Baylor and Texas Christian.

“When we don’t shoot the ball well, we will struggle. So we’re looking for Keelan Garrett, Shaun Johnson and Matt Moss to shake off the last game. All those guys have the green light, so they should be comfortable shooting. We’ve got to make shots.”

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NOTE: Sophomore Andrija Milovanovic will be back with the team after missing the past two games due to a family emergency in his native Serbia. He is averaging 3.5 minutes per game.

(Rick Hickman/American Press)

Rick Hickman