Southern at Texas Southern, 9:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU
On Tuesday, March 7, Texas Southern defeated Alabama State at home in the quarterfinal round of the SWAC Tournament by a score of 87-72, en route to an eventual SWAC Tournament championship and berth in the NCAAs. That game was also the last game played by the Tigers on their home court, as all 13 games so far this season have come on the road. In fact, Mike Davis’ team has not played a home non-conference game since November 2014. This season, the Tigers went 0-13 in their all-buy game slate with all of those losses having come to teams ranked in the top 50% of teams in Division I according to KenPom (and 7 of the 13 coming against the Top 50). It has been a long time since Tigers fans have been able to come out to cheer on their team, but with 2018 being welcomed in today, so are the Tigers as they host rival Southern University.
Southern enters tonight’s game at 4-9, with all 9 losses having come in their 9 road games. Jared Sam has been leading the way for the Jaguars so far this season, having scored in double digits 10 times already, including four double-doubles. He will need to have a big game, especially if Trae Jefferson plays for Texas Southern. Jefferson has topped 20 points in all but one game he has played so far, but did not play last time out at BYU as he was with his family to deal with the tragic shooting and killing of his father. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with Jefferson and the entire Texas Southern family as they deal with this tragedy and get ready for today’s start of SWAC play.