Men’s Basketball Kicks Off SWAC Play At Southern Saturday Evening

• Texas Southern men’s basketball starts SWAC play on the road at Southern University on Saturday evening inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center at 5:30 p.m.

• From Nov. 16-Dec. 17, six of its seven opponents on TSU’s schedule during that span were NCAA Tournament participants.

• TSU ended a three-game slide to SU last February with a road win as it marked the first win in Baton Rouge since 2019. Picked fifth in the preseason poll, SU is off to a 6-7 start under first-year head coach Kevin Johnson with wins over UNLV and Mississippi State. TSU is 20-9 against SU since March 5, 2009 and has won 21 of the past 31 contests since March 5, 2009.

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

• After having four non-conference home games last season, TSU was back to a road-heavy non-conference schedule with nine consecutive road/neutral games to open the season. The first con- test at home wasn’t until Dec. 21.

• 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.

• Jones is 7-6 lifetime against Southern University and 0-0 against SU’s Kevin Johnson.

• TSU hasn’t won two straight in Baton Rouge, La. since a three-game winning streak from 2017-19. TSU hasn’t won a SWAC opener since Jan. 4, 2020 and a SWAC road opener since Jan. 7, 2019.

• 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.

• Seven NCAA Tournament participants and a pair of home contests highlights the 2023-24 Texas Southern men’s basketball non-conference schedule. • TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 90-82 all-time in the month of January and 21-14 at TSU.