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• Texas Southern heads east once against to face Samford for the third straight year in Birmingham, Ala. on Sunday at 2 p.m.
• Samford was picked to win the SoCON as they average nearly 100 points per game and has a 20-game winning streak at home,
• This marks the fourth meeting overall and third consecutive time both teams will meet. Samford leads the all-time series 2-1 as the series began in 1996.
• 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.
• Both TSU and Samford have common opponents in Alabama A&M.
• Even though TSU head coach Johnny Jones has spent 24 years as a head coach, he has only faced one team from the Southern Conference and that was Samford as he's 0-2 all-time against the league.
• 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 60-63 all-time in the month of November and 8-33 at TSU.
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Source: https://tsusports.com/news/2024/11/...stination-in-birmingham-sunday-afternoon.aspx