Men’s Basketball Prepares For Boost Mobile Chris Paul HBCU Challenge

• Texas Southern prepares for a two-game showcase in Las Vegas, Nev. as they’ll open up the Boost Mobile Chris Paul HBCU Challenge Saturday against North Carolina A&T State followed by Hampton on Sunday.

• Texas Southern last played on Sunday, Dec. 11 after a 13-day layoff as they defeated North American University. TSU has played four games against nationally ranked opponents this season.

• A member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), this marks the third league for A&T since 2019-20 as they were members of the MEAC and Big South. A&T was picked 11th in the CAA. TSU last met A&T in December of 2000 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

• 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 will face 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 hosts a pair of NAIA institutions in December.

• For the first time since 2002, TSU will spend a considerable amount of time at home during non-conference play with four home games during its 2022-23 non-conference schedule. • TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 86-53 all-time in the month of December and 8-13 at TSU.

• Sophomore Davon Barnes is having a career year as TSU’s scoring leader (15 ppg). He has scored 30 against Samford and 22 against Kansas.

• 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.