• Texas Southern closes out its two-game road trip at NC State Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.
• The contest will be played inside NC State's historic Reynolds Coliseum as part of the program's annual Heritage Game on campus. NC State normally plays off campus at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.
• Texas Southern fell in the first round of the 2025 SWAC Tournament to Alabama State.
• Even though head coach Johnny Jones has spent 25 years as a head coach, he's only 3-6 all-time against the ACC. Jones is 0-3 all-time against NC State as he faced them in the 2015 NCAA Tournament and 2015-16 regular season as head coach at LSU in addition to the 2021-22 season at TSU.
• TSU returns two starters from last season and 10 letterwinners as they lost five lettermen. The Tigers added seven newcomers to its roster in the offseason as five were added via the transfer portal. Senior guard Zaire Hayes was named to the 2025-26 Preseason All-SWAC basketball team after a career junior campaign which saw him finish second on the team with 10.3 points per game while finishing second on the team with 47 three-pointers made. He also shot 46 percent from the field and 84 percent from the free throw line.
• Senior Troy Hupstead made his TSU debut on Nov. 6 and has averaged 14.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Graduate guard Bryce Roberts made his 2025 debut on Nov. 26 and averages 13 points.Â
• NC State is 10-0 all-time against the SWAC as this marks the second meeting between both schools. NC State head coach Will Wade has only faced two SWAC teams ever in Alcorn State and Grambling State.Â
• NC State assistant coach Brandon Chambers is a former member of the TSU coaching staff on two occasions from 2019-21 and 2022-23. He also worked at Nevada with TSU's Johnny Jones during the 2017-18 campaign.
• Both NC State's Will Wade and TSU's Johnny Jones are former head coaches at LSU. Will was scheduled to face Coach Jones in 2020 but the contest was canceled due to COVID-19.
• Graduate guard Zaire Hayes made his 2025-26 debut four weeks ago against Samford as he averages 9.5 points per contest. Hayes is a 2025-26 Preseason All-SWAC Selection.
• TSU, which is led by eighth-year head coach Johnny Jones, enters the 2025-26 season looking to earn its eighth NCAA Tournament bid over the past 13 years. TSU finished fourth in the SWAC last season and picked to finish fifth this year.
• TSU made its fifth consecutive postseason under Jones in 2024 and participated in three straight NCAA Tournaments from 2021-23. Head coach Johnny 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 in 2022.
• Jones is 91-60 all-time in the month of December and 12-20 at TSU.
