2025–26 Southwestern Athletic Conference men's basketball season

2025–26 Southwestern Athletic Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Teams12
TV partner(s)ESPN, HBCU GO,[1] SWAC TV[2]
Regular season
2025–26 SWAC men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Bethune–Cookman 10 2   .833 13 12   .520
Southern 8 4   .667 12 13   .480
Arkansas–Pine Bluff 8 4   .667 11 14   .440
Alabama A&M 7 5   .583 14 11   .560
Jackson State 7 5   .583 8 17   .320
Florida A&M 6 6   .500 9 14   .391
Texas Southern 6 6   .500 8 15   .348
Grambling State 5 6   .455 11 13   .458
Alabama State 5 7   .417 8 17   .320
Alcorn State 5 7   .417 6 18   .250
Prairie View A&M 4 8   .333 9 16   .360
Mississippi Valley State 0 11   .000 1 24   .040
2026 SWAC tournament winner
As of February 14, 2026

The 2025–26 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) men's basketball season started with non-conference play on November 3, 2025, and conference play will start on January 3, 2026. The regular season will end on March 5, 2026, and set up the 2026 SWAC men's basketball tournament, which will take place from March 9-14, 2026, at the Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.[3]

Head coaches

Coaches

Team Head Coach Previous Job Years At School[a] Record at School[b] SWAC Record SWAC Titles[c] NCAA tournaments[d] NCAA Sweet 16's
Alabama A&M Donte Jackson Grambling State 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Alabama State Tony Madlock South Carolina State 4 41–58 26–28 0 1 0
Alcorn State Jake Morton Florida State (Assistant) 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Arkansas-Pine Bluff Solomon Bozeman Oral Roberts (Assistant) 5 36–88 22–50 0 0 0
Bethune-Cookman Reggie Theus Cal State Northridge 5 55–74 39–33 0 0 0
Florida A&M Charlie Ward Florida HS 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Grambling State Patrick Crarey II Florida A&M 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0
Jackson State Mo Williams Alabama State 4 44–53 37–17 0 0 0
Mississippi Valley State George Ivory Mississippi Valley State (Assistant) 3 9–85 6–47 0 0 0
Prairie View A&M Byron Smith Prairie View A&M 10 128–161 98–70 3 1 0
Southern Kevin P. Johnson Tulane (Assistant) 2 37–24 24–8 1 0 0
Texas Southern Johnny Jones Nevada (Associate HC) 8 121–107 80–41 0 3 0
  1. ^ Year at school includes 2025–26 season.
  2. ^ Overall and SWAC records are from the time at their current school and are through the end of the 2024–25 season.
  3. ^ SWAC regular-season titles at current school only.
  4. ^ NCAA tournament appearances are from the time at current school only.

Preseason awards

Preseason rankings

SWAC Preseason Poll
Place Team Votes
1 Bethune–Cookman 232 (12)
2 Southern 214 (5)
3 Jackson State 208 (1)
4 Alabama State 183 (3)
5 Texas Southern 182
6 Alabama A&M 163
7 Grambling State 151
8 Florida A&M 115
9 Prairie View A&M 99
10 Alcorn State 74
11 Arkansas–Pine Bluff 70 (1)
12 Mississippi Valley State 25
(#) first-place votes

Sources:[4][5]

Preseason honors

Honor Recipient School
Preseason Player of the Year Daeshun Ruffin Jackson State
Preseason DPOY Doctor Bradley Bethune-Cookman
Preseason All-SWAC First Team Michael Jacobs Southern
Daniel Rouzan Bethune-Cookman
Daeshun Ruffin Jackson State
Kintavious Dozier Alabama A&M
Doctor Bradley Bethune-Cookman
Preseason All-SWAC Second Team Zaire Hayes Texas Southern
Dorian McMillian Jackson State
Jordan Chatman Florida A&M
Seneca Willoughby Bethune-Cookman
Micah Simpson Alabama State

Source:[6]

Regular season

Conference standings

Thru January 24, 2026

Conference Overall
Rank Team Record Percent Record Percent Tiebreaker
1 Bethune-Cookman 5–1 .833 8–11 .421
2 Florida A&M 5–1 .833 8–9 .471
3 Jackson State 4–2 .667 5–14 .263
4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 4–3 .571 7–13 .350
5 Alabama A&M 3–3 .500 10–9 .526
6 Southern 3–3 .500 7–12 .368
7 Alabama State 3–3 .500 6–13 .316
8 Prairie View A&M 3–4 .429 8–12 .400
9 Texas Southern 3–4 .429 5–13 .278
10 Grambling State 2–3 .400 8–10 .444
11 Alcorn State 2–4 .333 3–15 .167
12 Mississippi Valley State 0–6 .000 1–19 .050
Source:[7]

Conference matrix

  Alabama A&M Alabama State Alcorn State Arkansas-Pine Bluff Bethune-Cookman Florida A&M Grambling State Jackson State Mississippi Valley State Prairie View A&M Southern Texas Southern
vs. Alabama A&M 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Alabama State 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Alcorn State 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Bethune-Cookman 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Florida A&M 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Grambling State 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–1
vs. Jackson State 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Mississippi Valley State 1–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Prairie View A&M 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0
vs. Southern 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–1
vs. Texas Southern 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0
Total 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0

Thru January 9, 2026

Players of the Week

Week Player of the Week Impact Performer Newcomer of the Week
Nov. 11[8] Michael James
Mississippi Valley State
Daeshun Ruffin
Jackson State
Michael James
Mississippi Valley State
Nov. 19[9] Troy Hupstead
Texas Southern
Troy Hupstead
Texas Southern
Sami Pissis
Alabama A&M
Nov. 25[10] Michael Jacobs
Southern
Tai'Reon Joseph
Prairie View A&M
Jakobi Heady
Bethune-Cookman
Dec. 3[11] Kintavious Dozier
Alabama A&M
Asjon Anderson
Alabama State
Michael James (2)
Mississippi Valley State
Dec. 10[12] Quion Williams
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Daeshun Ruffin (2)
Jackson State
Milhan Charles
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Dec. 17[13] Kintavious Dozier (2)
Alabama A&M
Sami Pissis
Alabama A&M
Koron Davis
Alabama A&M
Dec. 23[14] Tai'Reon Joseph
Prairie View A&M
Daeshun Ruffin (3)
Jackson State
Antonio Munoz
Grambling State
Dec. 30[15] Tai'Reon Joseph (2)
Prairie View A&M
Dorian McMillian
Jackson State
Michael James (3)
Mississippi Valley State
Jan. 6[16] Tai'Reon Joseph (3)
Prairie View A&M
Alex Mirhosseini
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Quion Williams
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Jan. 13[17] Daeshun Ruffin
Jackson State
Micah Octave
Florida A&M
Cory Wells
Prairie View A&M
Jan. 20[18] Jakobi Heady
Bethune-Cookman
Daeshun Ruffin (4)
Jackson State
& Bryce Roberts
Texas Southern
Dontae Horne
Prairie View A&M
Jan. 29[19] Daeshun Ruffin (2)
Jackson State
Doctor Bradley
Bethune-Cookman
Troy Hupstead
Texas Southern

Records against other conferences

Thru January 26, 2026

Major 6 Conferences Record Major 6 Conferences Record
ACC 0–9 American 1–7
Big East 0–2 Big Ten 0–11
Big 12 0–15 SEC 0–22
Major 6 Total 1–66
Other Division I Conferences Record Other Division I Conferences Record
Atlantic 10 0–2 ASUN 3–3
America East 0–0 Big Sky 0–0
Big South 1–1 Big West 0–3
CAA 1–2 Conference USA 0–5
Horizon League 1–0 Ivy League 0–0
Independents 0–0 MAAC 0–1
MAC 1–1 MVC 2–1
MWC 0–3 NEC 0–0
OVC 2–3 Patriot League 0–0
SoCon 0–2 Southland 1–0
MEAC 3–2 Summit League 0–1
Sun Belt 2–7 WAC 0–6
WCC 0–4
Other Division I Total 17–47
NCAA Division I Total 18–113
NCAA Division II Total 1–0
NCAA Division III Total 3–0
NAIA Total 9–0
NCCAA/USCAA Total 8–0
Total Non-Conference Record 39–113

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

SWAC records against ranked teams (rankings from AP Poll, SWAC teams in Bold):

Date Visitor Home Site Score Conference record
November 3 Southern No. 14 Arkansas Bud Walton Arena
Fayetteville, AR
77–109 0–1
November 3 Jackson State No. 17 Illinois State Farm Center
Champaign, IL
55–113 0–2
November 3 Bethune-Cookman No. 20 Auburn Neville Arena
Auburn, AL
90–95 OT 0–3
November 3 Texas Southern No. 21 Gonzaga McCarthey Athletic Center
Spokane, WA
43–98 0–4
November 6 Grambling State No. 16 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum
Ames, IA
62–102 0–5
November 6 Jackson State No. 11 Louisville KFC Yum! Center
Louisville, KY
70–106 0–6
November 19 Jackson State No. 22 Auburn Neville Arena
Auburn, AL
66–112 0–7
November 21 Jackson State No. 21 Arkansas Bud Walton Arena
Fayetteville, AR
61–115 0–8
November 29 Bethune-Cookman No. 25 Indiana Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall
Bloomington, IN
56–100 0–9
December 3 Alcorn State No. 10 Iowa State Hilton Coliseum
Ames, IA
68–132 0–10
December 10 Jackson State No. 7 Houston Fertitta Center
Houston, TX
38–80 0–11
December 22 Bethune-Cookman No. 1 Arizona McKale Memorial Center
Tucson, AZ
71–107 0–12
December 29 Southern No. 20 Illinois State Farm Center
Champaign, IL
55–90 0–13

Thru January 26, 2026

Home Attendance

Thru January 26, 2026

Team Arena Capacity Total Games Average Attendance Attendance High Total Attendance Avg % of Capacity
Alabama A&M AA&M Events Center 6,000 10 1,501 3,223
December 3
15,005 25%
Alabama State Dunn-Oliver Acadome 7,400 3 782 1,101
January 12
2,346 11%
Alcorn State Davey Whitney Complex 7,000 2 454
January 19
454 3%
Arkansas-Pine Bluff K.L. Johnson Complex 4,500 6 1,245 2,423
January 17
7,467 28%
Bethune-Cookman Moore Gymnasium 3,000 7 773 912
January 26
5,409 26%
Florida A&M Al Lawson Center 9,639 7 873 1,101
January 24
6,109 9%
Grambling State Hobdy Assembly Center 7,500 6 1,817 4,787
January 17
10,899 24%
Jackson State Williams Assembly Center 8,000 4 1,133 2,220
January 3
4,532 14%
Mississippi Valley State Harrison HPER Complex 5,000 6 264 554
January 17
1,582 5%
Prairie View A&M William Nicks Building 4,000 7 341 626
November 5
2,388 9%
Southern F.G. Clark Center 7,500 6 3,507 4,357
January 3
21,043 47%
Texas Southern Health and Physical Education Arena 8,100 8 741 1,803
January 12
5,928 9%

Bold - Exceed capacity
Does not include exhibition games

Postseason

Conference tournament


For the first time, all teams in the conference will qualify for the 2026 SWAC men's basketball tournament.[20] The tournament will be held at the Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta, Georgia from March 9 to 14, 2026.

References

  1. ^ "SWAC Announces 2026 Men's and Women's Basketball HBCU GO Schedules". swac.org. December 9, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  2. ^ "SWAC Announces Creation of SWAC TV Streaming Platform". swac.org. July 16, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  3. ^ Southwestern Athletic Conference. "2026 SWAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments Information". swac.org. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  4. ^ Southwestern Athletic Conference (October 8, 2025). "SWAC Announces 2025 Men's Basketball Preseason Selections". swac.org. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
  5. ^ https://hbcusports.com/2025/10/09/bethune-cookman-men-picked-as-preseason-swac-basketball-favorite/#google_vignette
  6. ^ Southwestern Athletic Conference (October 8, 2025). "SWAC Announces 2025 Men's Basketball Preseason Selections". swac.org. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
  7. ^ "SWAC Men's College Basketball Standings - 2025-26". espn.com. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  8. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Nov. 11". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. November 11, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  9. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Nov. 19". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. November 19, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  10. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Nov. 25". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. November 25, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  11. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Dec. 3". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. December 3, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  12. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Dec. 10". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. December 10, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  13. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Dec. 17". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. December 17, 2025. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
  14. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Dec. 23". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. December 23, 2025. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  15. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Dec. 30". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. December 30, 2025. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
  16. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Jan. 6". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. January 6, 2026. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  17. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Jan. 13". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. January 13, 2026. Retrieved January 14, 2026.
  18. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Jan. 20". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. January 20, 2026. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  19. ^ "SWAC Men's Basketball Weekly Awards: Jan. 29". swac.org. Southwestern Athletic Conference. January 29, 2026. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
  20. ^ Kyle Mosley, HBCU Legends (June 27, 2024). "SWAC Announces Changes In Football Technology, Basketball Weekly Game Schedules, And Tournament Expansion". si.com. Retrieved December 22, 2025.