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• Texas Southern closes out its second-to-last homestand against Bethune-Cookman on Monday night at 7 p.m.
• TSU has dropped two straight SWAC games for the first time this year. They're currently locked in a three-way tie with Bethune-Cookman and Jackson State for second.
• 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.
• This marks the lone meeting this season between both teams due to the SWAC's unbalanced schedule as the series is tied 3-3.
• TSU head coach Johnny Jones will face B-CU for only the fifth time since 2013 as he defeated them 79-63 while head coach at LSU and twice (2022, '23) at Texas Southern.
• Picked eighth in the SWAC Preseason poll, Bethune-Cookman is tied for third in the SWAC currently. The Wildcats are on a three-game winning streak and have won five of the past seven games entering Monday. Trey Thomas leads the way with 15.5 points while Daniel Rouzan averages 10.2 points. Reggie Ward, Jr. leads the way with 8.2 rebounds per game.
• 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 99-84 all-time in the month of February and 31-14 at TSU.
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Source: https://tsusports.com/news/2025/2/10/mens-basketball-tigers-host-bethune-cookman-monday-night.aspx