Texas Southern Tigers
Record: 22-12, 16-2 SWAC
Head Coach: Mike Davis (3rd season)
Season summary: The Tigers come into the tournament playing their best basketball of the season, riding an 11-game winning streak spanning more than a month that carried them through the SWAC tournament. Although Texas Southern knocked off Southern 62-58 to win the conference championship, its ticket to the dance was actually punched after the semifinals—since Southern failed to meet APR requirements, thus making it ineligible for participation in the NCAA tournament.
Saturday’s close victory in the title game ended with a scary moment for the Tigers, with forward Malcom Riley taking a hard blow to the head that required stitches after the game. Riley should be good to go for Texas Southern’s opening game, but if the Tigers lose any of the junior’s production—Riley is fourth on the team with 10.2 points per game and leads the squad in rebounding and field goal percentage—then they could be in trouble. Texas Southern has three other players averaging double figures, so it could find ways to replace Riley’s scoring, but with no other players on the roster standing taller than 6-foot-9 or averaging more than 5.0 boards per contest, his rebounding would be sorely missed.
How they make a run: The Tigers upset a ranked Michigan State squad in December behind 20-point performances from Riley and forward Chris Thomas and a 53 percent shooting mark as a team. If it can continue to shoot the ball as well as it has in the last month and get big-time efforts from its top players, Texas Southern could surprise a higher-seeded team in the early rounds.
How they falter: A pure lack of size and talent dooms the Tigers, who fall in their first game to a bigger opponent that can outmuscle its way to victory.
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