PANTHERS TO FACE TSU IN SECOND HALF SWAC OPENER
Prairie View A&M kicks off round two of SWAC play Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. against longtime rival Texas Southern at the H&PE Arena in Houston.   The contest will be streamed live on the SWAC Digital Network and KPVU 91.3 FM.  

The Panthers will battle the SWAC's top team in TSU, who sits atop the standings at 8-1.  TSU has been winning by the skin of its teeth lately with two overtime wins in its past three games while the Panthers allowed a last second shot on Monday night versus Alabama State which cost them an opportunity to creep towards the top half of the SWAC standings.

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
Dating back to 1980, TSU holds a 58-19 mark against PVAMU with 17 of PVAMU's wins occurring in 1997 or later.  PVAMU and TSU last met in January on the PVAMU campus with TSU prevailing 81-77.  PVAMU head coach Byron Rimm II is 7-14 lifetime versus Texas Southern and 1-5 when coaching against TSU's Mike Davis on the sidelines.  Davis is 5-1 against PVAMU as TSU's head coach.

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, who surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in his career on Jan. 24, is PVAMU's top scorer and ranks fourth in the SWAC with 15.7 points per game.  Senior guard John Brisco ranks 16th in the SWAC and second on the team in scoring with 10.5 points per game while senior guard Tre Hagood follows with 9.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists.  Junior post Karim York is the team's leading rebounder with 5.1 per game along with chipping in 9.7 points.