• Texas Southern heads west to face New Mexico Sunday evening in The PIT.
• TSU will play New Mexico for the second straight year and third time since 2015. The Lobos lead the all-time series 7-1 as the lone TSU win took place in 1994 as current TSU VP for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Kevin Granger played on that squad.
• New Mexico is 28-1 all-time against the SWAC as TSU has the lone win. The Lobos defeated SWAC foe Grambling State last week.
• 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.
• New Mexico is the first of three Mountain West opponents TSU will face this year as they'll also face Nevada and Boise State next month.
• Even though Johnny Jones has spent 24 years as a head coach, he has only faced six Mountain West teams as head coach and is 1-7 all-time. He's 0-2 against Boise State, 0-2 versus San Diego State, 0-1 against Nevada, 0-1 versus Air Force, 0-1 versus New Mexico and 1-0 versus Wyoming.
• 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 60-64 all-time in the month of November and 8-34 at TSU.
