PANTHERS OPEN UP SWAC PLAY AT SOUTHERN
The Prairie View A&M Panthers open up SWAC play this weekend at defending SWAC Regular Season Champion Southern University on Saturday evening inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center in Baton Rouge, La.  After a tough non-conference slate which saw the Panthers play a rigorous, road heavy schedule, the second half of the season begins with a clean slate as the Panthers aspire to capture their first regular season title since the 2002-03 campaign.

HONOR A FALLEN PANTHER
Head coach Byron Rimm II and the Prairie View A&M family lost a former Panther recently in former student-athlete Mayol Riathin.  Riathin, who played for the Panthers from 2011-2013, died recently in a car accident which took place in the state of Wyoming.  Riathin wore No. 33 during his tenure at PVAMU and the number will not be worn this season as it was originally assigned to Nolan Wilson.

THE SERIES
Southern has won seven of the past eight games over the Panthers dating back to 2012.  PVAMU's 64-46 SWAC Tournament win over Southern last March marked the team's first win over SU since March 5, 2011.  Head Coach Byron Rimm II has a lifetime mark of 6-12 against Southern University and is 1-7 against head coach Roman Banks.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Prairie View A&M returns four starters from last year's team which advanced to the finals of the SWAC Basketball Tournament for the second consecutive season.  The Panthers also return a total of six letterwinners but lose a total of seven lettermen.  Senior guard Montrael Scott received first team preseason honors as the Prairie View A&M men's basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the annual SWAC Men's Basketball Preseason poll.  

Scott leads the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game while senior guard John Brisco ranks second in scoring with 12.3 points per game.  Fellow senior guard Tre Hagood has upped his scoring output to 9.5 points per game and a team-high 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists.  Junior post Karim York is the team's second-leading rebounder with five per game along with chipping in 9.5 points.

LAST TIME THEY MET
Prairie View A&M 64
Southern 46
Wed., March 12, 2014
Tre Hagood scored 16 points as No. 8 seed Prairie View A&M upset top-seeded Southern 64-46 in a Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal
Wednesday night.
Prairie View (10-22) avenged two losses to Southern (19-13) this season, the last a 91-59 rout on March 6. The Panthers advance to the semifinals on Friday, and will play the winner of Thursday night's game between Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Alabama A&M.
Up nine at the break, Prairie View opened the second half on a 14-2 run and led 39-18 with 13:25 remaining. Southern would only get within 12 points, 50-38 with 3:31 to play.
Jules Montgomery added 12 points for Prairie View, which has won twice since snapping a seven-game losing skid.
Malcolm Miller scored 16 points and Calvin Godfrey added 12 for Southern, which shot just 21 of 59 from the field (35.6 percent).

THE LAST TIME
Southern has won seven of the past eight games over the Panthers dating back to 2012.  PVAMU's 64-46 SWAC Tournament win over Southern last March marked the team's first win over SU since March 5, 2011.  

CAPITAL CITY STRUGGLES
The city of Baton Rouge has not been kind to PVAMU in recent history as the Panthers have dropped four straight contests on the SU campus.
The Panthers' last win  in Baton Rouge, La. was a 75-69 victory on March 4, 2010.

RIMM vs. SOUTHERN
Head Coach Byron Rimm II has a lifetime mark of 6-12 against Southern University and is 1-7 against head coach Roman Banks.

COMMON OPPONENTS
Prairie View A&M and Southern both played Baylor and Hawai'i during non-conference as each team went 0-2.
PVAMU lost 60-45 to Baylor and 76-68 to Hawai'i' while SU fell 70-66 to Baylor and 71-57 to Hawai'i.

ROAD WARRIORS
In non-conference play, the Panthers have lived out their suitcases this fall as 12 of their 13 contests     were away from campus.  Prairie View A&M traveled to a total of four states (Hawai'i', Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee) and played in three different time zones (Central, Hawaii-Aleutian, Pacific). 
The team's lone non-conference home game took place on Dec. 3 versus Schreiner.

DEFEND THE 3
The Panthers rank first in the SWAC in three-point field goal defense as their holding teams to a 29.1 shooting percentage.