Notes: Women's Basketball Opens 2020-21 Season at Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic

TROY, Ala. – The defending Sun Belt Champions officially tipoff their 2020-21 season on Friday in Hattiesburg, Miss. when they compete in the 33rd annual Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic. The event will be held over two days with Troy taking on SE Louisiana and Alabama A&M.

GAME INFORMATION
Troy (0-0, 0-0 SBC) vs SE Louisiana (1-0, 0-0 Southland) // Alabama A&M (0-0, 0-0 SWAC)
Date: Friday, Nov. 27 // Saturday, Nov. 28
Time: 6 p.m. // 2 p.m. (CT)
Location: Hattiesburg, Miss. (Reed Green Coliseum)
Watch: CUSA.tv (paid subscription required)
Listen: troytrojans.com/watch (Play-By-Play: Dan Peck)

The Series
vs SE Louisiana: Tied 3-3 // vs Alabama A&M: Troy trails, 0-2
Current Streak: W2 // Current Streak: L2
Last Meeting: Dec. 21, 2015 (W, 100-90) // Last Meeting: Nov. 26, 1987 (L, 60-75)

PICKED TO REPEAT AS CHAMPIONS
For just the second time as members of the Sun Belt Conference (2005-Pres.), Troy has been picked to repeat as League champions. Troy received nine of the possible 12 first-place votes and earned 140 points in the voting. It's nine first-place votes and 140 points are league high's since Rigby joined the Sun Belt in 2012. To go along with being picked to repeat as League champs, Troy was also selected to win the East Division.

A SWITCH TO DIVISIONS
Covid-19 has forced us all to create a new "normal" and one of those new normals is how the conference schedule and standings will be shaped. For the first time since the 2012-13 season, the Sun Belt will be split into East and West Divisions, and for the first time ever teams will play a conference schedule that only consists of its division. Troy will compete in the East division with App State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and South Alabama. Teams will play four members of their division four times each with games being played on Friday's and Saturday's. Rivalry games will be played just twice in a home-and-home format, on a Thursday and Saturday of that same week.

HALF & HALF
Troy's 2020-21 roster is uniquely made up of eight upperclassmen and seven underclassmen. Of those eight upperclassmen, seven are returning seniors while the other eight players are making their Troy debuts. The impressive collection of talent returning for Troy accounted for 47 percent of the scoring, 41 percent of the rebounds, 44 percent of the assists and 45 percent of the blocks from last season's championship team.

THE NATIONS BEST!!!
Rebounding has been a staple under head coach Chanda Rigby and few, if any, are better at it then her teams. Last season Troy led the NCAA in every rebounding category, highlighted by a program best 55.0 rebounds per game average (The highest per game average in the NCAA since Bethune-Cookman's 55.3 in 1985).

Tot. Reb. Reb. Per Gm

Year NCAA Rk. Stat NCAA Rk. Stat

19-20     1st    1,595          1st     55.0
18-19     4th    1,565          1st     50.5
17-18     4th    1,535          1st     49.5
16-17     2nd   1,655         2nd    50.2

15-16 39th 1,367 43rd 41.4

RIGBY SIGNS ONE FOR 2021-22
After signing five freshmen for 2020-21, the most in her career, Chanda Rigby announced the signing of one high school standout for next season. Rigby added one of the top talents from the state of Georgia in Gabbi Cartagena who enters her senior year having scored over 1,500 career points and grabbing 900 rebounds.

PRESEASON ALL-SUN BELT
Alexus Dye (1st), Jasmine Robinson (2nd) and Felmas Koranga (3rd) were each named to Preseason All-Sun Belt teams this season. Dye was an All-Sun Belt 2nd Team performer last season while Robinson earned 3rd team honors.

THE FIRST FROM KENYA
Troy's newest junior, Felmas Koranga, made history when she signed her letter of intent to play basketball at Troy University, becoming the first women's basketball player from Kenya to play NCAA Division I basketball. Koranga was the No. 2 ranked JUCO recruit in the country and was the WBCA Two-Year Player of the Year after being named a First Team All-American last season.

GOOD THINGS HAPPEN AT 100
Under Rigby, Troy is nearly unbeatable when it scores at least 100-points in a game. Since 2012, Troy has posted an impressive 20-2 overall record when reaching that plateau.

MOVING UP THE RANKINGS
Senior Jasmine Robinson will be climbing the career ladder in multiple stat categories this season. She currently ranks ninth all-time at Troy in total assists (266), seventh in assists per game (2.9) and 10th in free throw percentage (.751).

20 WIN SEASONS ARE STANDARD
Reaching the 20-win plateau is now standard at Troy. The Trojans have won at least 20 games in five of their last six seasons and each of the last two, including a program record 25 wins last season. Prior to their first 20-win season under Rigby in 2014-15, Troy hadn't won 20 games in a season since the 1996-97 season when they won 23. Of the programs eight 20-win seasons, five are under Rigby.

SUN BELT ELITE
Since the start of the 2012-13 season Troy has been one of the best team's year-after-year. Over the last eight seasons Troy has won 146 games, the second most amongst Sun Belt teams trailing only Little Rock who has won 172 over that time. Rounding out the top four are Louisiana (135) and Arkansas State (133).

EVERYONE IS A STARTER
Last season Troy rolled out 17 different starting lineups between its 29 games. Of those 17 different lineups, only the combination of Robinson, Johnson, Harriet Winchester, Amber Rivers & Kate Rodgers started more three games together, posting a 5-1 record. The next most games started for a group of five was three while five started two games.

1K CLUB WATCH
Senior Jasmine Robinson has scored 798 career points and is just 202 points away from becoming the 25th member of the 1,000-point club. Last season Robinson scored a career-best 340 points while her career low was 202 as a sophomore.

LATEST START TO THE SEASON
Troy opens the season on Nov. 27, which marks the latest start to a season since the 1996-97 season when they it opened against Belmont on Dec. 2, 1995 (W, 85-51).

80-PLUS POINTS
Troy is 95-26 (.785) over the last eight seasons when they score at least 80-points. Last season they reached the 80-point plateau 13 times, posting a 10-3 (.769) records in those games.

MELTING POT
Troy's 2020-21 roster is made up of talent from across the country and the world. Of the 15 student-athletes, eight are from different states (Alabama, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington D.C.) and two are from different countries (Kenya and Spain).

Game vs Florida A&M Canceled
Troy's original home opener vs Florida A&M, scheduled for Dec. 6, has been canceled due to the Rattlers team making the decision to opt out of the entire 2020-21 season on Nov. 23 due to Covid-19 concerns. More information will be made at a later date.

Numbers To Know
146: Did you know, since head coach Chanda Rigby took over Troy in 2012 she is the winningest Division 1 coach in the state of Alabama with 146 career wins. Her 146 wins is 9 more than UAB's Randy Norton.
10: In each of the last five season Troy has ranked in the top-10 nationally for scoring offense, averaging 81.4 ppg during that stretch. Last season Troy ranked 9th averaging 80.2 ppg
8: Troy is arguably the toughest team in the country to prepare for since they are the best at getting everyone involved. Last season Troy had a different leading scorer in its first 8 games

Follow TROY Women's Basketball
Social: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Join The Conversation: #OneTROY

Notes: Women's Basketball Opens 2020-21 Season at Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alexus Dye

Felmas Koranga

Amber Rivers

Jasmine Robinson

Kate Rodgers

Harriet Winchester

Troy University Athletics

Notes: Women's Basketball Opens 2020-21 Season at Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alexus Dye

Felmas Koranga

Amber Rivers

Jasmine Robinson

Kate Rodgers

Harriet Winchester

Related Videos