Swac Basketball Races Wide Open As Prairie View A&m Mbb, Southern Wbb Set Early Pace

HOUSTON - Prairie View A&M and Arkansas–Pine Bluff stock nan early lead successful nan Southwestern Athletic Conference men’s race, while Southern, Alabama A&M, and Texas Southern beryllium atop nan women’s standings, underscoring nan league’s parity this season.

"This whitethorn beryllium nan champion group of teams successful nan SWAC I've seen since coaching astatine Texas Southern, " Coach Johnny Jones told HBCU Legends.

With astir teams wrong 1 crippled of first place, neither title has produced clear separation entering mid-January.

Men’s Race: Prairie View A&M, UAPB Set Early Pace

Prairie View A&M (8–9, 3–1 SWAC) and Arkansas–Pine Bluff (6–11, 3–1) are tied for first spot successful nan men’s standings. The Panthers clasp nan stronger wide record, but some stay portion of a tightly packed field.

Florida A&M and Bethune–Cookman beryllium conscionable down astatine 2–1, positioning themselves arsenic early contenders if they tin drawstring together wins complete nan adjacent 2 weeks. Jackson State is besides 2–1 contempt a 3–13 wide record, highlighting really quickly fortunes tin displacement erstwhile convention play begins.

Alabama A&M, Grambling State, Southern, and Alabama State are each 2–2, meaning 1 beardown play could assistance immoderate of them from .500 into a stock of first place.

At nan bottom, Alcorn State (1–2), Texas Southern (1–3), and Mississippi Valley State (0–4) look shrinking margins for error. Texas Southern’s 3–12 wide people and MVSU’s 1–17 commencement stress nan value of protecting location tribunal and stealing roadworthy splits to reverse early struggles.

Texas Southern caput coach Johnny Jones acknowledged nan process aft a nonaccomplishment to UAPB.

“It conscionable doesn’t hap overnight,” Jones said. “You ain’t going to conscionable show up successful nan gym and hoop and deliberation it’s going to move retired nan correct way.”

The Tigers showed signs of advancement Monday nighttime erstwhile Zy Mortle knocked down six 3-pointers successful a triumph complete Mississippi Valley State.

“We’ve sewage to get different guys arsenic a squad to understand nan value of being astatine their champion nighttime successful and nighttime out,” Jones said. “Not conscionable connected nan violative end, but connected nan protect extremity arsenic well.”

Men’s Pivotal Games of nan Week

• Prairie View A&M vs. Jackson State
• Southern vs. Grambling State
• Florida A&M vs. Arkansas–Pine Bluff

Top 5 Scoring Leaders

1. Tai’Reon Josesph, Prairie View A&M - 23 PPG
2. Deashun Ruffin, Jackson State - 21.5 PPG
3. Michael Jacobs, Southern - 21.1 PPG
4. Michael James, MVSU - 19.9 PPG
5. Asjon Anderson, Alabama State - 18.4 PPG

Top 5 Offenses

1. Prairie View A&M - 82.2 PPG; Panthers person nan champion separator successful SWAC of 3.2 PTS
2. Southern - 81.4 PPG
3. UAPB - 79.6 PPG
4. Alabama State - 75.2 PPG
5. Grambling State - 73.4 PPG

Women’s Race: Three-Way Tie astatine nan Top

The women’s standings are arsenic congested. Southern, Alabama A&M, and Texas Southern stock first spot astatine 3–1, pinch each 3 hovering conscionable beneath .500 overall—an early denotation that nan SWAC title title is wide open.

Alcorn State sits astatine 2–1, while Florida A&M (2–1) and Alabama State (2–2) stay wrong striking distance. Grambling State and Mississippi Valley State are besides 2–2, leaving six teams wrong a azygous crippled of nan lead and making each head-to-head matchup captious for tiebreakers.

Jackson State and Bethune–Cookman are 1–2, Arkansas–Pine Bluff is 1–3, and Prairie View A&M remains winless successful convention play astatine 0–4. Despite a 2–13 wide record, PVAMU has opportunities to climb pinch respective location games remaining.

Women’s Pivotal Games of nan Week

• Texas Southern vs. Jackson State
• Florida A&M vs. Mississippi Valley State

Saturday matchups see Texas Southern astatine Alcorn State and Southern vs. Grambling State, followed by Monday’s in-state showdown betwixt Alabama A&M and Alabama State successful Montgomery.

Top 5 Scoring Leaders

1. Crystal Schultz, Prairie View A&M - 16.2 PPG
2. CJ Wilson, Prairie View A&M - 15.4 PPG
3. Indiya Bowen, UAPB - 13.2 PPG
4. Kaila Walker, AAMU - 12.7 PPG
5. Jailah Pelly, UAPB - 12.4 PPG

Top 5 Offenses

1. Texas Southern 67.9 PPG
2. Grambling State - 64.3 PPG
3. Alabama A&M - 61.9 PPG
4. Jackson State - 61.0 PPG
5. Southern - 59.2 PPG

As convention play deepens, protecting location floors will beryllium basal for positioning up of nan 2026 SWAC Basketball Tournament successful Atlanta. With parity crossed some standings, each possession now carries added weight successful races that stay acold from settled.

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