• The Texas Southern men's basketball team starts the first weekend of SWAC play against Southern on Saturday at 5 p.m. inside the H&PE Arena.
• TSU starts SWAC play after a 3-10 non-conference start. Newcomer Kavion McClain leads the team in scoring and leads the team and SWAC with 4.7 assists.
• 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.
• SU was picked third in the SWAC Preseason Poll and had a solid preseason with wins over LA Tech and Tulsa. SU has won five of the past eight against TSU but TSU managed to split the season series last year with a win in Houston. However, SU has won the past two-of-three contests in Houston.
• TSU is 21-10 against SU since March 5, 2009 and has won 22 of the past 33 contests since March 5, 2009.
• 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 94-85 all-time in the month of January and 25-17 at TSU.
