• Texas Southern prepares for its final road trip of the year at Arkansas-Pine Bluff Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
• With an expanded postseason tournament, the SWAC has adjusted its schedule as the final three weeks of the season will feature Thursday-Saturday match-ups for both men's and women's basketball teams. The tournament begins on Monday, March 9 for seeds 9-12 in Atlanta, Ga. TSU is one game out of second-place with three weeks left.
• Picked 11th in the preseason poll, UAPB has been the surprise of the league as they're tied for second place but lost its last two games to fall into the four-way tie. UAPB boasts the league's third-ranked scoring offense (77.6), fourth in field goal percentage (44.7), second in three-point percentage (35.2) and three-pointers made (198), third in free throws (75.2) and second in assist-turnover ratio (1.13). They have two players amongst the SWAC's top-11 scorers in Quion Williams (18.0) and Jaquan Scott (15.0). Williams is battling TSU's Troy Hupstead for the top spot as he averages 8.1 rebounds per game.
• UAPB has won seven of the past 16 games versus TSU thanks to its home court. UAPB is 8-8 against TSU in Pine Bluff since 2008 as they're 3-15 in Houston over the past 19 games.
• TSU head coach Johnny Jones is 9-6 lifetime against UAPB.
• 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 15.1 points and 9.3 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.
• 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 105-87 all-time in the month of February and 37-17 at TSU.
