• Texas Southern is back in action for its SWAC home opener as they host Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the H&PE Arena.
• Picked 11th in the preseason poll, UAPB has opened SWAC play with a 2-0 mark and boasts the league's third-ranked scoring offense (81.3), third in rebounding (35.9) and tops in free throws (77%) and assists (17.5). UAPB has two scorers in the top 10 in Quion Williams (17.9) and Jaquan Scott (16.2) Both also rank 3-4 in rebounding (7.8/7.1) while they also rank top five in field goal percentage, free throws and assists.
• UAPB has won six of the past 15 games versus TSU thanks to its home court. UAPB is 8-8 against TSU in Pine Bluff since 2008 as they're 2-15 in Houston over the past 18 games.
• TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 9-5 lifetime against UAPB.
• TSU is looking to avoid its first 0-3 SWAC start since 2023 as they started 0-5 that season.
• Texas Southern fell in the first round of the 2025 SWAC Tournament to Alabama State.
• 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 15.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. TSU graduate guard Bryce Roberts surpassed 1,000 career points last Tuesday which spans from his two years in junior college and three seasons on the NCAA Divison I and II levels.
• Graduate guard Zaire Hayes made his 2025-26 debut six weeks ago against Samford as he averages 10 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 100-88 all-time in the month of January and 31-20 at TSU.
