Texas Southern Tigers: 15-19, 12-6 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference
Head coach: Mike Davis (6th season)
Players to watch: Demontrae Jefferson (23.4 PPG, 39.4 3PT %); Donte Clark (18.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG); Derrick Bruce (13.9 PPG, 40.3 3PT%)
Season recap: It started out really, really bad for the Tigers. 0-13 bad.
But somehow, they're dancing.
Texas Southern lost 13 straight to start the year, mostly against major conference teams, and got blown out in nearly all of them. But once conference season rolled around, the Tigers got in a groove against more manageable competition, finishing third in the SWAC regular-season standings.
And for the second straight year, they rolled through the SWAC tournament to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, downing Arkansas Pine-Bluff Saturday to punch their ticket.
The Tigers' defense is horrendous—near the bottom of the nation in scoring defense—but they rode their way to the tournament on the back of their offense. Demontrae Jefferson, a 5-foot-7 guard listed at just 150 pounds, is an elite scorer, and once was top-100 recruit despite his small stature. Jefferson also has a strong sidekick in Donte Clark, a 6-foot-4 guard who can crash the boards despite struggling from beyond the arc.
How they make a run: Texas Southern's experience against top competition early in the season pays off, as it as able to score a first-round upset on the back of an astounding Jefferson scoring effort.
How they falter: The Tigers simply don't have the talent to keep up with an elite first-round opponent, and their defense gets shredded to send them packing after one round.
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.