Men’s Basketball To Face Alcorn State In SWAC Tourney Opener Wednesday Night
• TSU finished eighth in the SWAC and clinched the eighth seed as they’ll face #1 ASU for the third straight year. TSU defeated ASU in the first round in 2021 and the title game in 2022. TSU’s last time as an eighth seed occurred in 2008.
• This time of the year is TSU’s time to shine. TSU has not lost in the first round of SWAC Tournament play since 2009 and has played in the title game the past four of five years as 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19.
• Head coach Johnny Jones is 5-6 lifetime against Alcorn State and 3-4 against ASU’s Landon Bussie.
• TSU’s Karl Nicholas joined the 1,000-point club in early February. He’s the second Tiger on the team (John Walker III) to have surpassed the mark this season. • During TSU’s current three-game slide, its margin of loss is 4.2 points per game.
• TSU’s 25-game win streak over ASU came to an end in January of 2020 as ASU started a two-game streak in 2020. TSU broke the streak in 2021 with two wins but ASU swept the season series in 2022 as both games came down to the wire before TSU won the 2022 SWAC Tournament Championship. ASU swept the season series this past season.
• This marks the fifth year for TSU head coach Johnny Jones. TSU made its third consecutive postseason under Jones and second straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021-22. 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 has faced off against teams from nine Division I conferences in 2022-23. TSU squares off against teams from the WCC, Big 12 (2), Pac-12, Summit, SoCon, American, SEC, Big South and CAA. TSU also hosted a pair of NAIA institutions in December.
• For the first time since 2002, TSU spent a considerable amount of time at home during non-conference play with four home games during its 2022-23 non-conference schedule
Courtesy: TSUSports.com
