Southern and Texas Southern, the SWAC's top teams, to meet in Houston to begin league play

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- There’s not much time to waste. At least not for the heavyweights.

With the turn of the new year, Southwestern Athletic Conference play is here, and it will begin with the steamiest, and arguably best, bout the conference has to offer. If you've followed the preseason's polling, it could be the decider between the conference's best and runner-up.

Texas Southern and Southern, picked to finish No. 1 and No. 2 by the SWAC’s coaches and sports information directions in October’s preseason poll, begin 2018 with a New Year’s Day duel at 8 p.m. in Houston. The game, which will be televised on ESPNU, will begin a two-month stretch of SWAC-on-SWAC action until the league's tournament begins in early March.

Ahead of Southern in second, Texas Southern was picked to repeat as SWAC champion by the leagues following a 16-2 SWAC run in 2016-17 and a third conference tournament victory in the past four seasons.

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