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• Texas Southern starts a four-game road trip at Sam Houston on Saturday evening in Huntsville, Texas at 4:30 p.m.
• TSU will face Sam Houston for the first time since 2007 as it was in Houston inside the H&PE Arena. TSU and Sam Houston are tied at 3-3 in the all-time series.
• In head coach Johnny Jones' 24-year career, he's 32-29 all-time against the current lineup of Conference USA teams. Jones has faced Florida International (10-3), Kennesaw State (1-0), Louisiana Tech (0-1), Middle Tennessee (6-8), New Mexico State (6-4), Sam Houston (4-1) and Western Kentucky (5-12). TSU has not played a team from CUSA since Louisiana Tech in 2021.
• 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.
• Sam Houston is 26-15 all-time against current members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They've played everyone except Florida A&M and Alabama A&M and do not hold winning records against Alcorn Sate (4-5), Southern (3-3) and TSU (3-3).
• 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 90-58 all-time in the month of December and 12-18 at TSU.
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Source: https://tsusports.com/news/2024/12/...houston-saturday-afternoon-in-huntsville.aspx