Tigers capture berth in NCAAs
Texas Southern is heading back to the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers locked up the automatic bid from the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the third time in four years Friday night. Earlier in the day, TSU (22-11) beat Grambling State 62-57 in the first semifinal at Toyota Center. In the late semifinal, No. 2 Alcorn State topped thirdseeded Southern 81-59.
Alcorn State (18-13) is ineligible for the NCAAs after failing to meet APR requirements, securing a postseason trip for TSU in advance of Saturday’s championship game. The path is the same TSU took to a 2015 bid when it played
ineligible Southern in the SWAC final.
“Our players have really bought into what we are trying to do,” TSU fifthyear coach Mike Davis said. “We don’t just want to be OK. We want to get to the NCAA Tournament or NIT every year. That’s our goal.”
After failing to make the postseason in Davis’ first season, the Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament three times and qualified for the NIT last season.
Earlier Friday, Davis spent part of the postgame news conference playfully lobbying for a better seed.
“If we are fortunate to win the game (Saturday), I think we’re a 14 seed,” Davis said.
A few minutes later, Davis reminded reporters.
“Fourteen seed … you all got that right?” he said.
In an adjacent hallway after his news conference, Davis expanded on his comments, saying the Tigers’ non-conference strength of schedule (15th) makes his team worthy of a higher seed than the No. 16 the SWAC has historically received as one of the weaker leagues. TSU has won eight straight games and has lost twice since Dec. 21.
For the third year in a row, TSU did not play home non-conference games. Davis instead had his team play a gantlet schedule that included likely NCAA locks Baylor, Arizona, Louisville and Cincinnati.
“That’s why we play our non-conference schedule,” Davis said. “Why we went to Arizona, Baylor, Louisville, Cincinnati, TCU, LSU, Rice, La Salle … we wanted to understand the monster that we are going to face in March.”
CBS Sports.com has TSU as a No. 14; ESPN and USA Today say a No. 15.
Since the NCAA expanded the tourney to its current format in 1985, the highest seed for a SWAC school has been No. 13 by Southern, which upset Georgia Tech in the first round. The highest seed for TSU was No. 14 in 1990, when the Tigers lost to third-seeded Georgetown in the opening round.
At the start of the season, Davis said the goal was to win 25 games. The Tigers can pick up No. 23 and cut down the nets Saturday. They captured the main prize Friday.
“That’s why (TSU athletic director) Charles McClelland brought me here, to do things like this,” Davis said. “I’m just happy that we have players that are talented enough to achieve these goals.
“There’s a lot of work involved. Some day our guys will understand why we pushed them so hard, why we were so demanding.”
Jalan McCloud had a team-high 17 points against Grambling State, and Demontrae Jefferson had 14 points.