Tigers To Face Alcorn State Saturday Afternoon

• Texas Southern prepares for its annual Mississippi swing as they’ll head to Alcorn State on Saturday at 3 p.m.

• From Nov. 16-Dec. 17, six of its seven opponents on TSU’s schedule during that span were NCAA Tournament participants. • TSU split its past homestand against UAPB and Mississippi Valley State and stands at 2-2 in SWAC play.

• TSU’s 25-game win streak over ASU came to an end in January of 2020 as ASU started a two-game streak in 2020. TSU broke the streak in 2021 with two wins but ASU swept the season series in 2022 as both games came down to the wire before TSU won the 2022 SWAC Tournament Championship. ASU swept the season series last year but TSU won the tourney opener. TSU has not won in Lorman, Miss. since Jan. 5, 2019.

• Picked third in the SWAC Preseason poll, ASU is off to a 1-2 start as Jeremiah Kendall leads the way with 16.3 points. Byron Joshua follows with 11.3 points followed by Jeremiah Grambrell’s 11.2 points. Kendall also leads the team and ranks second in rebounding with 7.3 boards.

• Head coach Johnny Jones is 6-6 lifetime against Alcorn State and 4-4 against ASU’s Landon Bussie.

• 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.

• 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 91-84 all-time in the month of January and 22-16 at TSU