Men’s Basketball Heads Northwest To Face Prairie View A&M Saturday Evening

• Texas Southern closes out the first half of SWAC play at Prairie View A&M on Saturday evening in Prairie View, Texas at 5 p.m.

• From Nov. 16-Dec. 17, six of its seven opponents on TSU’s schedule during that span were NCAA Tournament participants. The first contest at home wasn’t until Dec. 21.

• TSU is coming off a two-game home sweep over Alabama State and Alabama A&M. TSU won’t return home until Feb. 17 as this starts a three-game road trip.

• TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 5-7 lifetime against Prairie View A&M and PVAMU’s Byron Smith, a former assistant at TSU in 2009-10.

• Since 2013, TSU is 15-9 against PVAMU and has won three of the past five games against the Panthers. TSU, which has not won at PVAMU since 2022, has not won two straight in Prairie View since 2004 and 2005. Since 1997, TSU is 9-16 at Prairie View and has lost 14 of the past 22 in Prairie View.

• Picked sixth in the SWAC Preseason poll, PVAMU enters Saturday’s game in a four-way tie for fifth as the SWAC is a logjam from top to bottom so far. Charles Smith leads all scorers with 14.1 points and 3.7 points. Javontae Hopkins follows with 12.9 points and 5.6 rebouds while Brian Myles is the rebounder with 8.1 boards along with 10.1 points.

• Guard PJ Henry joined the 1,000-point club at TSU on Jan. 29 while TSU head coach Johnny Jones is seven wins from his 400th career win and three wins from his 100th career win at TSU.

• The Tigers are coming off their third straight SWAC Tournament Championship and NCAA Opening Round appearance as they fell to Fairleigh Dickinson last season.

• For the fourth straight season, the Texas Southern men’s basketball team was picked to finish first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll while senior guard PJ Henry was named the 2023-24 SWAC Preseason Player of the Year.

• TSU, which is led by sixth-year head coach Johnny Jones, has won the past three SWAC Tournament Championships and enters the 2023-24 season looking to earn an unprecedented fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and its eighth over the past 11 years. Only three teams have made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances in SWAC history.

• TSU made its fourth consecutive postseason under Jones and third straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022-23.  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 claimed another Power 5 non-conference win against Arizona State last season.

• TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 93-80 all-time in the month of February and 25-10 at TSU.