• Texas Southern closes out it latest road trip at Jackson State Monday night live on SWAC TV at 7 p.m.
• Picked third in the preseason poll, JSU has won three of its past four and feature the SWAC's second-leading scorer and Preseason SWAC Player of the Year in the SWAC in Daeshun Ruffin (21.6). Ruffin also ranks second in the SWAC with 4.9 assists per game.
• Since 2007, TSU is 25-15 against JSU and has won 17 of the past 21 dating back to 2015. TSU has won 11 of the past 14 against JSU. Since 2012, TSU is 20-9 against JSU but eight of the nine losses have been in Jackson.
• TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 16-4 lifetime against JSU as he has faced JSU as head coach at Memphis, North Texas and TSU. He's 11-4 against JSU as TSU's head coach.
• 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 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. TSU graduate guard Bryce Roberts surpassed 1,000 career points a few weeks ago 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 102-89 all-time in the month of January and 33-21 at TSU.
