Men’s Basketball Travels To Face Prairie View A&M Live On ESPNU Saturday Evening

•  Texas Southern closes out the first half of SWAC play with the start of a three-game road trip at Prairie View A&M on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. live on ESPNU.

• TSU swept its past homestand and has won two straight. Saturday’s game marks the first time since 2002 TSU will face Prairie View A&M at the close of the SWAC cycle. From 2003-21, the rivalry was the third SWAC contest of the season for both teams and the beginning of the second half of SWAC play.

• Head coach Johnny Jones hit a career milestone late in 2021 with his 350th career win after the SWAC Tournament semifinal win on March 12. He’s one win away from 360 wins.

• Jones is 3-5 lifetime against Prairie View A&M and PVAMU’s Byron Smith, a former assistant at TSU in 2009-10.

• This marks the fourth year for TSU head coach Johnny Jones. TSU returned to the NCAA Tournament after the 2020-21 season and won its second NCAA Tournament contest in school history. 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 faced off against teams from seven conferences in 2021-22. TSU squared off against teams from the Pac-12 (2), WCC (2), Mountain West, ACC, Conference USA, SEC and WAC.

• Since 2013, TSU is 13-7 against PVAMU but since 1981, TSU sports a 24-15 record against PVAMU inside the Baby Dome. Since 1997, TSU is 8-15 at Prairie View and has lost 14 of the past 20 in Prairie View. TSU’s last win at PVAMU was in 2017.

• The Panthers were picked to finish second in the preseason poll and have won four of the past five. Jawaun Daniels leads the way with 14.4 points and 4.8 rebounds followed by 10.9 points from D’Rell Roberts.

• TSU takes the term “home, sweet home” to heart as the Tigers are 112-25 inside the H&PE Arena since 2008. TSU has won nine-plus games at home every year since the 2010-11 season as COVID-19 prevented the streak from continuing in 2021.

• Jones is 86-76 all-time in the month of January and 17-9 at TSU.

• TSU was picked to finish first by the Southwestern Athletic Conference while the duo of John Walker III and Justin Hopkins both earned preseason honors. Experience won’t be an issue as four starters return along with eight letterwinners from 2020-21.