It’s difficult to draw up a better way to resume Grambling’s basketball season than playing a Southwestern Athletic Conference doubleheader on national television.
NBA TV will have wall-to-wall coverage of today’s games at Jackson State, beginning with pregame at 1:30 before the 2 p.m. tipoff of the women’s contest. The men’s matchup is set for 4:30.
The action can be viewed on DirecTV on channel 216, on DISH at channel 156, and also free through Watch.NBA.com online.
Grambling’s teams haven’t played in nine days due to weather that wiped out last week’s slate.
Freddie Murray’s Grambling women are 7-7 overall, 6-4 in the SWAC while Jackson State is 10-5/9-1. This will be the first meeting between the teams this season.
The men’s game is a rematch of a 75-61 Jackson State victory in Grambling last month. Coach Donte’ Jackson’s G-Men are 9-9 overall, 7-4 in SWAC play, while JSU is 6-5/6-0.
It’s the first time NBA TV has aired a SWAC hoops doubleheader. The NBA said the showcase is in honor of Black History Month and also cited the recent passing of one of its reporters, Sekou Smith, a Jackson State alumnus.
The announce team is slated to be New Orleans broadcaster Ro Brown and former Saints star Deuce McAllister. Brown is slated to join the ranks of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a 2021 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award in Sports Journalism. McAllister was enshrined in the LSHOF in 2012 for his great playing career with the New Orleans Saints. The former Ole Miss star, a native of tiny Ludlow, Miss., is the game analyst on the Saints radio network.
SOCCER: Grambling opens its season Tuesday afternoon at ULM (2-11) in a 4 p.m. contest at Warhawk Field. The Lady Tigers, 35-26-3 in the past three years, just announced Craig Roberts as their new coach.
Roberts has worked with national teams in Puerto Rico and Haiti, and has 19 years of NCAA Division I experience. After Tuesday’s contest, the Lady Tigers open SWAC play at home (the GSU Soccer Complex) Friday against Prairie View at 3 p.m.
Grambling has made two SWAC Championship Game appearances in the past three seasons.
SOFTBALL: The Lady Tigers and Northwestern’s Lady Demons begin the weather-delayed 2021 season Tuesday in Natchitoches with a pair of games at the Lady Demon Diamond. First pitch is 5 o’clock.
BASEBALL: The Tigers begin their season Friday at FedExPark in Memphis against the Tigers of Memphis.
Photo: TayTapes870/GSUTigers.com