• Texas Southern wraps up its two-game homestand against Sam Houston on Saturday at 4 p.m.
• Despite its proximity from each other, TSU will face Sam Houston for only the second time since 2007 as the series resumed last year in Huntsville. Sam Houston leads 4-3 in the all-time series.
• Texas Southern fell in the first round of the 2025 SWAC Tournament to Alabama State.
• In head coach Johnny Jones' 25-year career, he's 32-30 all-time against the current lineup of Conference USA teams. Jones has faced Florida International (10-3), Kennesaw State (1-0), Louisiana Tech (0-1), Middle Tennessee (6-8), New Mexico State (6-4), Sam Houston (4-2) and Western Kentucky (5-12). Prior to Sam Houston last year, TSU hadn't played a team from CUSA since Louisiana Tech in 2021.
• 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 15.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.Â
• Sam Houston is 27-15 all-time against current members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They've played everyone except Florida A&M and Alabama A&M and do not hold winning records against Alcorn Sate (4-5) and Southern (3-3). Sam Houston was picked to finish ninth in the CUSA poll.
• Senior guard Zaire Hayes made his 2025-26 debut three weeks ago against Samford as he averages 12.3 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 91-58 all-time in the month of December and 12-18 at TSU.
