TSU Basketball Teams To Appear On HBCU GO Saturday Afternoon
The TSU men’s and women’s basketball teams will head north to Arkansas-Pine Bluff for SWAC contests live on HBCU GO.tv on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
• Texas Southern is back in action on Saturday for a contest at Arkansas-Pine Bluff live on HBCUGo.tv at 12:30 p.m.
• Both teams enter Saturday’s game looking for their first SWAC win of 2022. TSU is also looking for its first win of the year asthe team has had strong starts to open its past two games before late lulls saw the leads evaporate.
• Micah Gray’s 33 against Central Florida was the fourth highest single-game performance in at least the last 12 years. The previous high was 35, which was most recently attained on Jan. 6, 2022, by Adriana Avent.
• Micah Gray (16.8) and Adriana Avent (16.2) rank 3-6 in scoring amongst SWAC leaders.Jaida Belton ranks eighth in rebounding (5.2) while Kamryn Bates is second in assists (3.0).
• Andriana Avent was named the SWAC Player of the Week on Nov. 30 after recording double-digits against Rice (22) and Ole Miss (13). She surpassed the 500-point career mark at TSU in the loss against Ole Miss.
• TSU head coach Vernette Skeete inherits a program which finished fourth in the SWAC last season and fell in the first round of the 2022 SWAC Tournament on a late putback. This year’s roster, which has been picked to finish eighth in the SWAC, is drastically different with nine newcomers and six returnees. Six of the nine newcomers are true freshmen.
• Andriana Avent is TSU’s lone All-SWAC returnee as she was a scoring machine for TSU during her first season. She averaged 18.1 points in 23 games played. Avent has scored in double figures in 24 consecutive games dating back to the non-conference finale at USC on Dec. 18, 2021. Avent had nine games with 20-plus points, including four with 30-plus including a season-high 35 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Jan. 8.
• TSU has faced off against teams from seven conferences in 2022-23. TSU will square off against teams from the American (2), Sun Belt (1), Conference USA (2), SEC (2), WAC (2), ACC and Pac-12.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
• Texas Southern hits the road for its first SWAC contest of 2023 as they’ll face Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 3 p.m. live on HBCU GO on Saturday.
• Texas Southern has dropped two straight contests and has began SWAC 0-2 for the first time since 2021.
• Grad student Karl Nicholas is red hot as he has posted four double-doubles over the past seven games while Zytarious Mortle is the reigning SWAC Player of the Week as he averaged 27 points and six rebounds.
• UAPB has won four of the past 11 games versus TSU thanks to its home court. UAPB is 7-8 against TSU in Pine Bluff since 2008 as they’re 1-13 in Houston over the past 15 games.
• Jones is 6-2 lifetime against UAPB.
• 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 has faced 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 hosted a pair of NAIA institutions in December.
• For the first time since 2002, TSU spent a considerable amount of time at home during non-conference play with four home games during its 2022-23 non-conference schedule.
• Jones is 87-78 all-time in the month of January and 18-11at TSU.
• 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.
Courtesy: TSUSports.com
