HOUSTON — The 2024 Starry SWAC Men’s Basketball Championship Game will feature an epic battle between the No. 3 Texas Southern Tigers (16-15, 12-6 SWAC) and the No. 1 Grambling Tigers (19-14, 14-4 SWAC). Saturday’s match will tip off at 8:30 PM CT inside Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. ESPNU will nationally televise the game.
The Texas Southen Tigers seek a fourth-consecutive automatic berth to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Surprisingly, the Grambling State Tigers have never received an automatic bid to the big dance.
“We won on each other’s floor. We won at Grambling,” Coach Johnny Jones said about the G-Men. “They won at our place, and it’s a team that we played in the championship last year…They’re a very good team. They’re very talented.”
The teams split the regular season with losses at home for each. TSU won the first game, 54-52, and Grambing notched the second one, 66-63. The margin for both wins was only four points. Tonght’s title game will be another close match.
In his presser, head coach Donte Jackson remarked, “Texas Southern, they’ve been the kings of the SWAC…, it doesn’t matter whether we play Blue Moon State. We got to come ready to play.”
The matchups to watch are the TSU Tigers’ senior guards, P.J. Henry and Jonathan Cisse, going blow-for-blow against GSU guards Tra’Michael Moton and Kintavious Dozier.
Grambling has a slight field goal efficiency edge over Texas Southern at 48.6% to 47.6%. Another is the free throw ratio, which calculates free throw attempts to free goal attempts. Should the game be close during clutch time, GSU has a 27.1% ratio versus TSU’s 21.8%.
The H-Town Tigers, with Grayson Carter and Kenny Hunter leading the way, are excellent rebounders, having the team ranked 41st in the nation, averaging 37.6 rebounds.
The GSU Tigers are 15th in the nation, allowing an average of 62.2 points, while TSU surrenders 71.9 PPG.
Keep an eye on Texas Southern X-Factor guard Jaylen Wysinger. He logged productive time in the victory against Alabama A&M. We’ve watched him be a spark plug for the team this season, subbing for PJ Henry.
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Texas Southern vs. Grambling State Championship Game Info
- Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024
- Time: 8:30 PM CT/9:30 PM ET
- Location: Birmingham, Alabama
- Venue: Bartow Arena
- Live Stream: ESPNU or fuboTV (click here)
- Radio Broadcast: Texas Southern Radio – Larry “Chattabox” Hale (Play-by-play)
- Coaches: Donte Jackson (Grambling State), Johnny Jones (Texas Southern)
- Team Records: No. 3 – Texas Southern Tigers (16-15, 12-6 SWAC); No. 1 – Grambling Tigers (19-14, 14-4 SWAC)
Texas Southern vs. Grambling State SWAC Title Prediction
- Prediction: Texas Southern Wins
- Spread: 1.0 points
- Total Prediction: 123 total points
2024 SWAC Power Rankings
2nd – Texas Southern (16-15)
- National rank: 250th
- Strength of schedule rank: 316th
- Projected record: 16-15
- Last game: 72-65 win over Alabama A&M
- SWAC Offense: 6th – 70.3 PPG
- SWAC Defense: 4th – 70.6 PPG
- SWAC Margin of Victory: 3rd – (-0.3) PPG
7th – Grambling State (19-14)
- National rank: 268th
- Strength of schedule rank: 311th
- Projected record: 17-15
- Last game: 65-53 win over Bethune-Cookman
- SWAC Offense: 10th – 67.4 PPG
- SWAC Defense: 2nd – 69.1 PPG
- SWAC Margin of Victory: 8th – (-8.4) PPG
Texas Southern Projected Starters
- PJ Henry: 15.3 PPG
- Jonathan Cisse: 13.3 PPG
- Grayson Carter: 7.3 PPG
- Deon Stroud: 6.5 PPG
- Kenny Hunter: 5.3 PPG
Grambling State’s Projected Starters
- Tra’Michael Moton: 11.9 PPG
- Kintavious Dozier: 13.2 PPG
- Antwan Barnett: 9.9 PPG
- Jourdan Smith: 9.4 PPG
- Jalen Johnson: 7.8 PPG
