BATON ROUGE - The Southern men's basketball team is off to a great start to their season. They are currently in first place in the SWAC after starting conference play 2-0, with a 7-8 overall record.

The Jags have been able to knock off a few non conference opponents like Louisiana Tech and Tulsa, but they know the competition will get fierce in conference play, so their standings right now aren't their main focus.

"Anytime you can win games, it gives your guys some confidence, but it's too early in the race to be concerned about first, second or third. It's a game to game deal, and we want to be better for the next gam," second year head coach Kevin Johnson said.

The Jags rank in the top five in almost every team statistic in the SWAC, but this weekend's opponent is not far behind. In the SWAC, everyone is fair game.

"You look at a team that might come into conference play at 0-13, but this league is anybody's race. There's 8-9 teams that have a ability to win the conference, so you've gotta be ready every night. If we're going to take the next level as a team, we're going to have to defend home court. All of our conversations are about this game and defending home court," Johnson said.

Southern has been able to overcome adversity and use a lot of their bench players when other guys are out with injuries. It has made them more resilient and could help even more in the long run.

Both of Southern's basketball teams will be in action on Saturday. The women will face Florida A&M at 2:30 p.m. The men's team will follow with FAMU at about 5 p.m.