Men’s Basketball Opens Key Homestand Against Grambling State Saturday Night

• TSU returns home on Saturday to begin an important stretch which has them playing five of their final seven games inside the H&PE Arena against Grambling State 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 road split in Florida last weekend as they enter Saturday’s game. This is an important weekend as TSU is a game behind Grambling State and two games behind SWAC leader Southern. Also, point differential comes into play at this point if there’s a season series split.

• Since 2010, GSU is 7-25 against TSU but has won seven of the past 15 games as head coach Donte’ Jackson has all the wins during that span. History says the game will be close as seven of the past 15 games have been decided by three points or less.

• Head coach Johnny Jones is 13-4 lifetime against Grambling State and 10-4 at TSU.

• Picked second in the preseason poll, GSU currently sits in second place. Led by seventh-year head coach Donte’ Jackson. GSU swept the season series last year for the first time since 2018 but fell to TSU in the SWAC Tournament Championship last March. TSU claimed the first game in January and is looking to sweep Grambling State for the first time since 2022. Dozier Kintavious leads GSU with 14 points per game while Jonathan Aku leads the team in rebounding with 5.4.

• Guard PJ Henry joined the 1,000-point club at TSU on Jan. 29 while TSU head coach Johnny Jones is five wins from his 400th career win and one win 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 95-81 all-time in the month of February and 27-11 at TSU.