Name: Southern University and A&M College
“And A&M College”? What? Hang on, we’ll get to it.
Founded: Chartered in 1880 by the Louisiana State Assembly and opened their doors for the first time in New Orleans in March 1881. I continue to be fascinated by these spring dates for the first day of classes back in the day. Southern received Land Grant status from the assembly in 1890 in order to receive benefits as laid out in the Morrill Act and that led to the introduction of a Agricultural and Mechanical side of the school. If you’re Land Grant, you have to provide that kind of education and study.
Hey, you skipped the usual Location bit at the top! On purpose! Did you see where I mentioned that Southern was founded in New Orleans? Yeah. In 1914, they relocated to just outside Baton Rouge, which is the current location of the school. The official seal of the university makes a big deal about mentioning both the incorporation of the school in 1880 and the relocation in 1914. Was it probably good for the school to have space to grow outside Baton Rouge, and is it better for the prospective student body for the school to be a bit more inland/centrally located? Yep. Was there a certain amount of “yeah, maybe this black school is taking up precious space near the whites in New Orleans, please move” attached to it? I mean, apparently the governor said as much in 1910, sooooooooo
Acknowledging history is important, but can we move on to something more fun now? Yes, but only because I want to spend a lot of space talking about the Southern University Human Jukebox.
The what now? That’s the name of Southern’s marching band, and they are AWESOME. Please go visit their YouTube page and bask in their glory. A brief sampling:
Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus
Motownphilly by Boyz II Men
Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar
I’m sure Southern has many other great campus traditions that are worthy of mention here to provide a bit of extra knowledge of what it’s like to be a student there, but I’m a sucker for marching band videos and we’ve got other things to talk about.
Enrollment: 8,279 total students at the Baton Rouge campus in Fall 2024, with 6,713 undergraduates.
Notable Alumni: Former American Idol judge Randy Jackson; 1972 Munich Olympics gold medalist Rod Milburn; jazz musician Branford Marsalis; The Ringer podcaster Van Lathan; and Sherian Grace Cadoria, the first black woman to be promoted to the rank of General in the US Army.
Why “Jaguars”? I have no idea. Neither the Southern Athletics website nor the main university website seems to be interested in having an obviously located history page and Ye Olde Google is not helpful. I can say that the nickname seems to have been in existence long before 1971 when Southern was presented with a live jaguar mascot as a gift by Henry J. Bellaire. Lacumba lived on campus until 1991 and her successor, Lacumba II, reigned from then until 2004.
Last Season: 20-12, 15-3 in the SWAC
Final 2024-25 KenPom.com Ranking: #231
Final 2024-25 BartTorvik.com Ranking: #213
Preseason Poll: Southern was picked to finish second in the SWAC this season. With 22 voters (coaches and sports information directors, although they appear to have missed two?), Southern earned five first place votes, trailing first place Bethune-Cookman’s 12. That led to an 18 point difference between the two, 232-214.
Senior guard Michael Jacobs is Southern’s only representative on the All-SWAC Preseason Team, earning First Team honors.
This Season: 0-1, after a 109-77 loss on the road against #14 Arkansas on Monday
Current KenPom.com Ranking: #177, down from their season opening #165
Current BartTorvik.com Ranking: #166, down from their season opening #159
Points: Michael Jacobs, 11.3 ppg
Rebounds: DaMariee Jones, 4.6 rpg
Assists: Michael Jacobs, 2.8 apg
Opening Night Stats Leaders
Points: Michael Jacobs, 22 points
Rebounds: DaMariee Jones, 4 on the offensive glass, 3 on the defensive glass
Assists: Michael Jacobs, 4
Head Coach: Kevin Johnson, the same guy that was the head coach the last time these two teams faced off in November 2023. He has a record of 37-25 with the Jaguars over the past two-plus seasons, and a career record of 102-125 after a turn-of-the-century run as Centenary’s head coach.
Bigs? Not really. Malek Abdelgowad is the tallest guy on the roster at 6’10”. However, Southern lists him at just 220 pounds — that’s 20 pounds lighter than MU’s Josh Clark, who is also three inches taller and still looks rail thin — and on top of that Abdelgowad played just 13 minutes as a starter in the loss to Arkansas. He averaged 4.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in just under 14 minutes a game for UMass last season, and just had 8 points and six rebounds against the Razorbacks. That’s pretty great production for just 13 minutes, but he also had three turnovers.
Terrance Dixon is 6’8” and 230 pounds and played 20 minutes on Monday night. He finished with three points and three rebounds. PJ Dobuol started for the Jaguars, but 1) He’s listed at just 195 pounds on his 6’8” frame and 2) he played just four minutes after snagging two fouls. Lionel Bell is a 6’9”, 235 pound freshman who played six minutes and grabbed two rebounds.
Shooters? Southern shot 44% behind the arc against Arkansas, so that’s immediately worrying. However, it was kind of centrally located, and more specifically, it mostly came from their bench. Fazl Oshodi connected on five of his 10 attempts in 26 minutes as a reserve, and Rondae Hill went 3-for-5 in just 15 minutes of action against the Razorbacks. Oshodi shot 35% at Southwest Mississippi Community College last season, while Hill was a 39% shooter for Division 2 Henderson State.
Add in Michael Jacobs going 2-for-4 as the leading scorer, and that’s 10 of Southern’s 12 makes. Those three went 10-for-19 on their own, which means everyone else went 2-for-8. Maybe that’s unfair, as Jayce Depron accounted for three of those misses on his own in just six minutes of action. Cam Amboree shot 36% last year and was 1-for-2 on Monday, while Brandon Hardy’s own 1-for-2 performance was way over the head of his 23% at Louisiana before transferring to SU.
What To Watch For: Southern forced turnovers at a 22.1% clip in Kevin Johnson’s first year in charge, and last year, the Jaguars were at 21.1%. Those numbers ranked #11 and #20 in the country respectively. They weren’t able to create that kind of havoc against Arkansas, managing to get just nine turnovers all night. But the point remains that generating the takeaways is what Johnson wants to do, and after MU had an 18% turnover rate in their opener, that’s something to keep an eye on.
In particular: Sean Jones turned the ball over four times in 20 minutes against Albany. If Southern gets in in their head that they can pick on Jones… and they’re successful doing it…. well, you see the problem, right? Not just for Wednesday night, but in general?
All-Time Series: Marquette leads 3-0 with wins in 2013, 2018, and 2023.
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