After leading Grambling to a historic season, Donte Jackson became the first coach to win the Jobe Award twice, having previously won the award in 2018.

Grambling won the SWAC regular season championship for the second consecutive season, finishing with a 24-9 record and defeated nemesis Texas Southern in the SWAC conference tournament title game.

Jackson has a 120-102 record in seven seasons at Grambling, including an 80-42 mark in SWAC games.

“Donte Jackson has rewritten the narrative about Grambling basketball in the Division I era,” Angela Lento, Vice President of CollegeInsider.com said. Prior to his arrival, the program struggled for decades, finishing above .500 in conference play just eight times in 40 years. He has taken Grambling from second-division status to the top of the SWAC. Donte Jackson is the best coach in Grambling’s Division I history.”

The Ben Jobe Award is named in honor of one of the most iconic coaches in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. (HBCUs). He is best known as the head coach of Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee, and South Carolina State.

His record at Southern was 209-141, including four NCAA Tournament appearances. He coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles, and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was
leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the event’s history.

Coach Jobe passed away on March 10, 2017.

The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches and two senior staff members of Collegeinsider.com.

Senior guard Tra’Michael Moton scored 21 points, grabbed four rebounds, and gave out two assists in his final game with the G-Men. Dozier contributed 16 points and four rebounds in the defeat.

The 2023-24 College Player of the Year, Zach Edey, posted a double-double of 30 points and 21 rebounds in 31 minutes of action.  His nine offensive rebounds were more than the entire Grambling State team.

The Purdue Boilermakers advance to play the winner between No. 8 Utah State and No. 9 TCU.

Grambling State now has a record of 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament.

The game had ten lead changes, as the G-Men extended their biggest lead by eight points with 22.5 seconds remaining. After the Tigers win in the First Four matchup with the Bobcats, they will meet No. 1 Purdue in Indianapolis.

Guard Jimel Cofer had a career night, scoring 19 points and grabbing two rebounds during the victory. His dazzling performance must be put in perspective, as Cofer averaged 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in the 2023-24 season.

“I just know my team has my back,” Cofer said. “Anybody on this team can get hot at any time. It was just my night.” At one point, he had a six-point streak in the second half. Also, the 6-4 Sophomore did not play in the G-Men’s win over Texas Southern to claim the SWAC Tournament title. Jourdan Smith and Antwan Burnett added 19 points each while hitting big free throws in the extra period.

“We gotta get to the road, pack up, figure it out, start on film. And worry about how we can throw the whole house, the kitchen, the whatever, the backyard, and Zach Edey. We just got to figure it out.”

Grambling was down 42-33 at halftime but overscored the Bobcats 39-30 before heading into overtime. Montana State shot 51.7% from the floor compared to 50% by the SWAC Champs. GSU had the free-throw advantage, scoring 18 of 23 (78.3%) to MSU’s 8 of 15 from the charity stripe.

Robert Ford III led the Bobcats with 26 points (six treys) and six rebounds for Montana State in the losing effort.

The Purdue Boilermakers (29-4) will host the Grambling State Tigers (21-14 in the first round of the Midwest Region 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at 6:25 PM CT on TBS.

Related: Grambling State Tigers Are The New ‘Kings Of The SWAC’ After They Dethrone The Texas Southern Tigers, Going To First NCAA Tournament

No. 16 Howard Bison will play No. 16 Wagner Seahawks in the West Region at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

No. 16 Grambling State Tigers are paired with No. 16 Montana State Bobcats in the Midwest Region at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

The official dates and times of the basketball games have yet to be determined.

According to the NCAA, the First Four are based on the following:

When selecting the teams for the NCAA tournament, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee ranks every team from No. 1 through No. 68. In its current format, the First Four consists of eight teams — the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams. Each subset plays against itself (i.e., at-large teams face at-large teams, and automatic qualifiers face automatic qualifiers).

Related: Grambling State Tigers Are The New ‘Kings Of The SWAC’ After They Dethrone The Texas Southern Tigers, Going To First NCAA Tournament

Related: Howard Bison Vanquish Delaware State Hornets To Repeat As The MEAC Men’s Basketball Champions, Head To NCAA Tournament