Men’s Basketball Returns To Action Wednesday Night At Nevada

• Texas Southern is back in action after an 11-day layoff as they’ll head to Reno, Nev. to face the Nevada Wolf Pack on Wednesday evening.

• This marks the second year for TSU head coach Johnny Jones. 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 competed in the CIT. TSU advanced to the semifinals of the CIT last season.

• TSU has to replace three key starters from last year’s squad but has several returnees who had made starts last year that will have to step up. Point guard Tyrik Armstong, shooting guard John Jones and forward Eden Ewing will be counted on to lead the charge as Armstrong and Jones are top returning scorers while Ewing is the top returning rebounder.

• Head coach Johnny Jones is 82-45 all-time in the month of December and 3-5 at TSU. 

•  Even though Jones has spent 18 years as a head coach, he has only faced three
Mountain West teams as head coach and is 0-4 all-time. He’s 0-2 against Boise State
and 0-2 versus San Diego State

• This marks the first meeting in series history between the teams. Against Nevada head coach Steve Alford, TSU is 0-3 all-time.

• Nevada is 4-0 all-time against the SWAC with games against Alabama State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Prairie View A&M.

• TSU was picked second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll as senior forward Eden Ewing was named to the All-SWAC Preseason First Team. Ewing was granted a sixth year of eligibility in the summer while forward John Walker III was granted a waiver to participate immediately after spending the past season at Texas A&M University. 

• Head coach Johnny Jones and a pair of staff members in assistant coach Brandon Chambers and video coordinator Derek Saich all have ties to Nevada. Jones, Chambers and Saich all were at Nevada under current Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman in 2017.

• Three of TSU’s first three opponents (San Diego State, Wichita State, Arkansas) are ranked in the Ken Pomeroy Basketball Ratings Top 40 and three of the final four non-conference opponents are also ranked in the top 100 (Nevada, Oregon, Arizona State, Texas A&M).