Men’s Basketball Opens Busy Stretch With Home Contest Against Prairie View A&M Sunday Afternoon

• The Texas Southern men’s basketball team is back in action Sunday afternoon as they’ll host Prairie View A&M in a makeup game from Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. The Tigers will have a busy stretch of games from this point as this marks the first of seven scheduled games over a 13-day period.

• The Tigers have won five straight after an 0-2 start and have climbed back into sole possession of third place in the SWAC standings. TSU is back at .500 also.

• This marks the third year for TSU head coach Johnny Jones. 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 competed in the CIT. TSU advanced to the semifinals of the CIT in 2019. Last season, 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.

• Head coach Johnny Jones is 80-72 all-time in the month of February and 14-4 at TSU. 

• Jones is 2-4 lifetime against Prairie View A&M and PVAMU’s Byron Smith. 

• Prairie View A&M, the reigning back-to-back SWAC Regular Season Champions, was picked third in the preseason poll and are one of two undefeated teams in SWAC play. Led by former TSU assistant coach Byron Smith, transfer Cam Mack leads the team with 14.4 points and 8.5 assists per game while Jawaun Daniels averages 11.3 points. Jeremiah Gambrell averages 11.9 points while Lenell Henry is the top rebounder with six boards per game. Prairie View A&M enters  off an extended period of rest as the team hasn’t played since Feb. 1 due to COVID-19.

• Since 2013, TSU is 12-6 against PVAMU and has won five straight games inside the H&PE Arena against the Panthers. PVAMU’s last win against TSU inside the H&PE Arena was in 2015. Currently, PVAMU has won two straight over TSU.

• TSU was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the 2020-21 SWAC title in the annual preseason poll with nine lettermen returning and three starters. The Tigers also had a trio of student-athletes earn preseason honors as Yahuza Rasas and Justin Hopkins were named to the first team while Chris Baldwin received second team honors. Experience won’t be an issue as four of the five newcomers are NCAA Division I transfers who sat out last season due to NCAA rules.

• TSU takes the term “home, sweet home” to heart as the Tigers are 107-24 inside the H&PE Arena since 2008. TSU has won nine-plus games at home every year since the 2010-11 season.