• Texas Southern starts a key homestand against Grambling State on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the H&PE Arena.
• The second half of SWAC is about seeding as Grambling State (7th) is a half-game ahead of TSU (8th). TSU would need to defeat GSU by 18 points in order to claim the tiebreaker.
• Picked seventh in the preseason poll, Grambling State had a change of leadership prior to the season as former Florida A&M head coach Patrick Crarey II took charge. GSU has the SWAC's top scoring defense (70.1) and ranks first in opponent field goal percentage (.432). Freshman Antonio Munoz leads the team with 12.4 points per game while Roderick Coffee III leads the team in rebounds (4.8).
• Since 2010, GSU is 10-27 against TSU but has won 10 of the past 20 games. History says the game will be close as eight of the past 20 games have been decided by three points or less. TSU and GSU have battled five times in postseason play since 2014 as TSU is 4-1.
• Head coach Johnny Jones is 15-7 lifetime against Grambling State and 11-7 at TSU.
• 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 10.9 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 103-87 all-time in the month of February and 35-17 at TSU.
