Injuries to Play Part at MSU

GAME NOTES :: LIVE STATS

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Troy Trojans are 1-3 and in need of a victory, but the opposition isn't going to get any easier on Friday night when they face Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum.

The Trojans are reeling and its largely in part to a rash of injuries that has depleted a roster that many thought would be one of the deepest in recent memory. This is a problem the program hasn't dealt with in quite some time.

When the team arrives at Humphrey Coliseum on Friday afternoon, it will only dress six scholarship athletes along with walk-on Steven Cunningham as it prepares to take on the undefeated Bulldogs squad.

“This is a whole next experience for us,” head coach Don Maestri said. “Our athletic trainer, Alyson Gramley, said the other day that we have had more injuries this season than in her previous seven seasons total. I talked to [assistant head coach David] Felix about it and we couldn't remember in our 29 years together ever dealing with this many injuries over a whole season, let alone the first three weeks.

“We can't even practice 5-on-5 because we don't have 10 healthy players. You can't have a normal practice. It is what it is though. You have to keep working hard and keep trying to improve as a team every practice and every game.”

What Maestri is doing to help his team regroup is two-fold. First, they are changing up their playing style. Secondly, the team is focusing on the basics.

“There are a couple of things [we are doing],” Maestri said. “One, we have to try and play a little more conservatively. Maybe that means shortening the game up by not playing as fast. We don't have as many bodies as we had even last week, so it's hard to run as much as we like to. We are down to only six scholarship players and one walk-on. That limits what we are able to do. That means we have to make a change in how we do things.

“Secondly, we have to go back to practicing fundamental basketball because the room for error is so much smaller. We can't be committing all the turnovers that we have been committing. We have to go back to fundamental drills of dribbling the basketball and passing the basketball.”

The Trojans have turned the ball over 62 times this season, an average of 15.5 per game.

For a team that already possessed a large amount of question marks, injuries have just added to the mystery. Three seniors have stepped up in the young season – Vernon Taylor, Levan Patsatsia and Bernard Toombs are all averaging career highs in various categories through four games.

On the last road trip both Taylor (25 points at UTSA) and Patsatsia (22 points at Georgia State) set new career-best scoring marks. Both have also stepped their games up in other facets of the game. Taylor is filling in at point guard while Will Weathers is out, while Patsatsia had four steals against UTSA on Monday.

Toombs is proving to be the man in the paint for the Trojans. He's led Troy in rebounding in 3-of-4 games this year and has blocked 10 shots thus far, the second best total in the Sun Belt Conference.

Mississippi State is also led by a pair of seniors. Guard Ravern Johnson is scoring 25.3 ppg through three MSU victories. He's connected on 11-of-21 from beyond the arc (52.4 percent). Forward Kodi Augustus is averaging a double-double with 16.7 ppg and 11.0 rpg.

Tip-off for Friday night's game is set for 6 pm at Humphrey Coliseum. Barry McKnight will bring you all the action from courtside on the Troy Sports Network presented by IMG College beginning at 5:30 pm.

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