The 5 p.m. contest features the top two teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) as ASU (16-7/12-2 SWAC) and the Tigers (15-12/12-2 SWAC) enter the game tied at the top of the standings.  The winner will be a game up on the other for the regular season title with three games to play.
 
"Well this is a really important game because it's the next game on our schedule," Head Coach Lewis Jackson said.  "It does happen to have a lot of meaning at this late stage of the season.  We went into the season wanting to win the conference title and this is a big game for us, just like it is for them."
 
Texas Southern downed ASU 80-65 earlier in the season when the Hornets made their annual trip to Houston.  The Tigers, only shooting 29 percent from beyond the three point line, connected on 10-three point field goals in upending the Hornets who only shot 43 percent in the game, while TSU shot 55 percent from the field.

"They shot the ball really well when we played at their place," Jackson said.  "They did a good job of finding the open player and then knocking down the shot.  Defensively we lost players in open space and they took advantage of it.  We can't afford to let that happen again."
 
The game will showcase two of the top offenses in the SWAC as ASU's 72.9 points per game is the league's top scoring offense while TSU is not far behind averaging 65 points per game which is third.
 
TSU has three players averaging in double figures led by Madarius Gibbs 13.4 points per game.  Chris Thomas comes into Montgomery averaging 13 points and Deverell Biggs comes off the bench averaging 10.7 points per game.
 
The Hornets will counter with Jamel Waters (13.6), DeMarcus Robinson (11.0), Maurice Strong (9.6), Wendell Lewis (9.0) and Bobby Brown (9.0).
 
Even though the Hornets will be facing an overall taller opponent, ASU will hope to show off its league-leading rebounding team led Strong's 7.3 boards per game.  Luther Page comes off the bench and averages 5.7 rebounds per game while Brown is also grabbing over five per game (5.4).
 
"We have to do a better job on the boards than we have the past few games, and especially when we were at TSU where they out rebounded us," Jackson said.  "We must limit them to one shot and we must hit the offensive boards aggressively since they will have some size on us."
 
The game will be senior night for six Hornets.  Tony Jacob, Wendell Lewis, DeMarcus Robinson, Brandon Graham, Maurice Strong and Luther Page will be recognized before the action gets started.
 
The game can be heard and watched live on HornetVision at bamastatesports.com.