TSUSports.com: TSU Basketball Teams To Face Alabama State Monday Night

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The Texas Southern men’s and women’s basketball teams travel to Alabama State for a 5:30 p.m. doubleheader Monday evening.




WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

• TSU closes out its road trip at Alabama State Monday evening inside the Acadome at 5:30 p.m.

• While Alabama State has 50-37 advantage in the all-time series against Texas Southern, it is the Tigers that own the series as of late with 10 wins in the last 14 outings including last season’s 67-64 win thanks to 15 each fom Ataiya Bridges and Andriana Avent.

• Micah Gray earned her second SWAC Player of the Week honor of her freshman campaign after setting a school-record 41-point performance against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Jan. 7 then helping the Tigers earn their first win of the season with a 24-point, 5-rebound and 3-steal performance on Jan. 9 against Mississipi Valley State. Micah Gray’s 33 against Central Florida was the fourth highest single-game performance in at least the last 12 years.

Micah Gray (18.9) and Adriana Avent (15.2) first and sixth, respectively, in scoring amongst SWAC leaders. Jaida Belton ranks tenth in rebounding (5.9) while Kamryn Bates is third in assists (3.3).

Andriana Avent was named the SWAC Player of the Week for the second time season after averaging 17 points last weekend. Avent was named the SWAC Player of the Week on Nov. 30 after recording double-digits against Rice (22) and Ole Miss (13). She surpassed the 500-point career mark at TSU in the loss against Ole Miss.

• TSU head coach Vernette Skeete inherits a program which fined fourth in the SWAC last season and fell in the first round of the 2022 SWAC Tournament on a late putback. This year’s roster, which has been picked to finish eighth in the SWAC, is drastically different with nine newcomers and six returnees. Six of the nine newcomers are true freshmen.

Andriana Avent is TSU’s lone All-SWAC returnee as she was a scoring machine for TSU during her first season. She averaged 18.1 points in 23 games played. Avent has scored in double figures in 24 consecutive games dating back to the non-conference finale at USC on Dec. 18, 2021. Avent had nine games with 20-plus points, including four with 30-plus including a season-high 35 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Jan. 8.

• TSU has faced off against teams from seven conferences in 2022-23. TSU will square off against teams from the American (2), Sun Belt (1), Conference USA (2), SEC (2), WAC (2), ACC and Pac-12.




MEN’S BASKETBALL

• Texas Southern is looking to extend its winning streak as they close out a two-game swing at Alabama State on Monday night in Montgomery, Ala.

• The injury bug has infected TSU in a big way as the team was down two key starters in every SWAC game until Jan. 16. TSU is slowly getting back to full strength as the team is 2-0 with the starters back in the rotation.

• Jones is 7-1 lifetime against Alabama State.

• TSU has dominated the series against Alabama State recently as the Tigers have won 22 of the past 24 match-ups. TSU’s last loss to ASU was on Feb. 3, 2020.

• This marks the fifth year for TSU head coach Johnny Jones. TSU made its third consecutive postseason under Jones and second straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021-22. Jones went 24-14 in his inaugural year as head coach with three Power 5 conference wins. TSU fell in the finals of the 2019 SWAC Tournament and advanced to the semifinals of the CIT in 2019. In 2019-20, the Tigers made it back to the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament after a third-place regular season finish but saw the season end abruptly due to COVID-19. TSU won the SWAC Tournament and First Four contest in 2021 and was the first SWAC team to beat a ranked opponent from the SEC in 2021 at Florida.

• TSU has faced off against teams from nine Division I conferences in 2022-23. TSU squares off against teams from the WCC, Big 12 (2), Pac-12, Summit, SoCon, American, SEC, Big South and CAA. TSU also hosted a pair of NAIA institutions in December.

• For the first time since 2002, TSU spent a considerable amount of time at home during non-conference play with four home games during its 2022-23 non-conference schedule.

• Jones is 89-81 all-time in the month of January and 20-14 at TSU.

• For the third straight season, the Texas Southern men’s basketball team was picked to finish first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference while the duo of Karl Nicholas and John Walker III both earned preseason honors. Nicholas was tabbed the SWAC’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.


Courtesy: TSUSports.com
 
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