HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Jax State men's basketball team begins its run in the 2024 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship Tuesday night when it opens tournament action against ninth-seeded FIU.
 
The Gamecocks (14-17, 6-10 CUSA) enter the program's inaugural CUSA championship as the No. 8 seed. The format for the 2024 CUSA Tournament begins with an 8 vs 9 contest with the winner advancing to take on top-seed and regular-season champion, Sam Houston on Wednesday.
 
Since joining Division I, Jax State has 10 conference tournament victories and seven of those have come under head coach Ray Harper. The all-time series against FIU began in 1996 when the two met as Trans-America Athletic Conference (TAAC) foes. The Panthers still lead the series, 4-3, but the Gamecocks have been victorious in each of the last three meetings.
 
Tuesday's tournament opener tips at 8 p.m. on ESPN+ with Matt Warner and Paul Nazigian on the call. The Voice of the Gamecocks, Mike Parris, will cover the play-by-play action over the Gamecock Sports Network. All links, including live stats, can be found at JaxStateSports.com.
 
Graduate transfer KyKy Tandy, the league's leading scorer at 18.3 points per game, was named a First Team All-CUSA selection on Monday while redshirt-sophomore Mason Nicholson – already tabbed to the league's All-Academic Team – earned all-conference honorable mention. The duo will be joined by seniors Juwan Perdue, Matt Mayers and the rest of the 2023-24 Gamecocks as tries to win a championship in the third different conference since 2017.