SWAC Basketball: 2024 Conference Tournament Recap and First Four matchup preview
Over 4 days, 7 games decided the top team in the SWAC. This tournament was just as wild and crazy as the regular season.
Greetings to all, it's CWells your tour guide around the SWAC. Birmingham, Alabama was the place to be for SWAC basketball this week. Over the course of 4 days, 7 games decided the top team in the SWAC. This tournament was just as wild and crazy as the regular season, upsets, wild plays. chippy play, coaches complaining about the schedule and reviews (lots of reviews).
If I had one gripe about the tournament it would be the officiating. I won't spend much time here on that topic, so I will just say lots of physical play was allowed. The teams that could adjust to that found success in their games. Two names that stood out throughout the tournament were Jonathan Cisse of Texas Southern and Tra'Michael Moton of Grambling State. Both players put on great performances leading their teams to the tournament final. One final point before we get to the recap: there was some slight controversy about the winner of the last quarterfinal (which started at 8:30 pm CST) having to play the first semifinal (starting at 2:00 pm CST). To me, this wasn't a huge issue and I didn't like that it cast some doubt on that game's outcome. In this article, we will recap the entire SWAC tournament and take a quick look at the SWAC’s opponent in the NCAA tournament. Let's get to it!
Quarterfinal #1: 7 Alabama A&M defeats 2 Alcorn State,75-63
The tournament got off to a bang with an upset in the first game. The Bulldogs were able to stop the hot Braves, snapping their 9-game winning streak. AAMU used a 41-point 2nd half to shock Alcorn. The Bulldogs are not known for their 3-point shooting but they made 6 second-half 3-pointers (54%). Omari Peek and Lorenzo Downey led the way with 16 points apiece. If the Bulldogs were on fire in the second half the Braves were frozen. They couldn't buy a bucket when they needed one (29% fg and 22% 3pt). Jeremiah Gambrell scored 16 points for Alcorn. This loss marks Alcorn"s second consecutive first-round exit as a top 2 seed. The Bulldogs are a team that won't quit and this game displayed that.
Quarterfinal #2 1 Grambling State defeats 8 Alabama State 56-50
The G-Men got their SWAC tournament off to a strong start Wednesday night against Alabama State. The Tigers controlled this game despite a 13-0 first-half run by the Hornets. Bama State couldn't recreate the magic from the upset of Grambling in the previous game. As a number 1 seed, you just want to survive your first game, and the Tigers did just that. Kintavious Dozier (18 points) and Tra'Michael Moton (14 points) both hit 3 three-pointers to keep the Hornets at bay. Bama State struggled to hit shots for the bulk of the game (30% fg 29% 3pt). TJ Madlock led the way with 15 points.
Quarterfinal #3 3 Texas Southern defeats 6 Jackson State, 73-62
Texas Southern got their SWAC tournament title defense off to a strong start Thursday afternoon. TSU took control of the game early and never looked back. Jackson State couldn't keep pace as they couldn't get any shots to fall (32% fg 21% 3pt) Coltie Young was one of the few bright spots scoring 21 points. Texas Southern's Jonathan Cisse put on a show scoring 24 points with an impressive display of drives and floaters. Probably the second-best individual performance in the tournament (I'll share the first a bit later). PJ Henry chipped in with 19 points to guide the Texas Tigers. In the first half, the Tigers were scorching hot. This TSU program just knows how to win in the SWAC tournament and this game didn't show anything otherwise.