Men's Basketball Picked 1st, Nicholas, Walker Named To All-SWAC Preseason Teams

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For the third straight season, the Texas Southern men’s basketball team was picked to finish first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference while the duo of Karl Nicholas and John Walker III both earned preseason honors.

TSU, which is led by fifth-year head coach Johnny Jones, has won the past two SWAC Tournament Championships and NCAA First-Round contests. The Tigers garnered 14 first-place votes in the annual poll voted on by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.

Individually, graduate student Karl Nicholas was tabbed the SWAC’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and All-SWAC First Teamer while fellow grad student John Walker III earned Preseason Second Team All-SWAC honors.

A native of Houston, Nicholas ranked second on the team with nine points per game to go along with 6.1 rebounds last season. He finished third on the team with 25 blocks and was a consistent force on both ends of the year in both non-conference and conference play. Nicholas was also named the SWAC’s Impact Player of the Week on Dec. 8, 2021, as he averaged 13.5 points and six rebounds with 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals while also shooting 66 percent (12-of-18) from the field during a week that saw TSU defeat No. 20 Florida.

Walker was TSU’s leading scorer last year with 10.2 points while also the team’s fourth-leading rebounder (4.3) and second in blocks (28). The Houston native had 15 games with double-digit points and 10 games with two-plus blocks, including four against eventual NCAA National Champion Kansas during TSU’s second game of the NCAA Tournament. He was also named to the 2022 All-SWAC Tournament Team after scoring 17 points, six rebounds, and two blocks in the SWAC Tournament Championship.

TSU kicks off the 2022-23 season Monday, Nov. 7 at San Francisco.