• Texas Southern hits the road for the rest of the year starting with a trip to Jackson State on Saturday as both teams are battling for the No. 2 seed starting at 3 p.m.
• TSU is coming off a pair of big wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Mississippi Valley State at home last week. TSU is one game behind JSU for the No. 2 seed in the SWAC Tournament and tied with Bethune-Cookman for third. Three teams are a game behind in fifth place as this road trip is critical.
• Texas Southern fell in the finals of the 2024 SWAC Tournament last season and participated in the CIT as they fell to Tarleton State in the opening round.
• TSU returns two starters from last season and eight letterwinners as they lost seven lettermen. The Tigers added seven newcomers to its roster in the offseason as six were added via the transfer portal. The TSU men's basketball duo of Grayson Carter and Kenny Hunter were named to the 2024-25 Preseason All-SWAC Second Team. Hunter was also tabbed the league's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
• TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 16-3 lifetime against JSU as he has faced JSU as head coach at Memphis, North Texas and TSU. He's 11-3 against JSU as TSU's head coach.
• Since 2007, TSU is 25-14 against JSU and has won 17 of the past 20 dating back to 2015. TSU has won 11 of the past 13 against JSU. Since 2012, TSU is 20-8 against JSU but seven of the eight losses have been in Jackson.
• Picked fourth in the SWAC Preseason poll, JSU is in sole possession of second place as of now. Daeshun Ruffin leads the team with 15 points and 3.2 rebounds followed by 10.9 from Dorian McMillian and 10.3 from Jayme Mitchell, Jr.
• TSU, which is led by seventh-year head coach Johnny Jones, has won three-of-the-past four SWAC Tournament Championships and enters the 2024-25 season looking to earn its eighth NCAA Tournament bid over the past 12 years.
• 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 in 2022.
• Jones is 60-38 all-time in the month of March and 30-12 at TSU.
