Troy Set to Open 2021, Sun Belt Play at App State

TROY, Ala. -- The Troy men's basketball program opens 2021 and Sun Belt Conference play Friday and Saturday afternoon at App State. Tip-off Friday afternoon is set for 5 p.m. CT, while Saturday's game will tip-off at 3 p.m. CT.

Both Friday and Saturday's contests will be streamed live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available on Troystats.com.

New for the 2020-21 season, the Sun Belt Conference has switched to divisional play, with the 12 teams being split into the east (Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Troy) and west (Arkansas State, Little Rock, Louisiana, UT Arlington and ULM).

Instead of facing the 11 other SBC teams, the Trojans will instead play two, two-game series against Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and Georgia Southern. To round out the 18-game slate, Troy will place South Alabama just twice (once home, once away).

Following this weekend's games at App State, the Trojans will return action next weekend when Georgia State visits Trojan Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.

HOW TO FOLLOW (Friday):
TROY (5-4) at Appalachian State (6-3)
Date: Jan. 1, 2021
Location: Boone, N.C. (Holmes Convocation Center)
Time: 5 PM CT
Live Video: Watch
Stats: Stats
Listen: Radio

HOW TO FOLLOW (Saturday):
TROY (5-4) at Appalachian State (6-3)
Date: Jan. 2, 2021
Location: Boone, N.C. (Holmes Convocation Center)
Time: 3 PM CT
Live Video: Watch
Stats: Stats
Listen: Radio

THE WEEK THAT WAS (Troy: 5-4):
The Troy Trojans returned to action Monday night after a nearly 10-day break, dropping Carver College 88-35. In that contest, three Trojans reached double-figures led by senior Nick Stampley who scored 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in just 20 minutes of action. Junior Zay Williams added 15 points, while Kam Woods scored 13 to tally his fifth game with at least 10 points. After allowing Carver to hit a 3-pointer to go up 3-0, the Trojans used a 15-0 outburst to grab control of the game. The Trojans led 43-15 at the half, and allowed just 35 points in a game for the first time since 1960 (Jax State, 35).

THE WEEK THAT WAS (App State: 6-3):
The App State Mountaineers will return to the court for the first time in nearly 10 days, Friday. The Mountaineers enter the weekend with a record of 6-3 overall after falling back on Dec. 22 to Auburn (67-53). Despite the loss, App State closed its non-conference slate with its best record since 2006-07. The Mountaineers are 4-1 this season at Holmes Convocation Center, but all four wins were against teams that do not compete in D-I. After starting the season with back-to-back wins over South Carolina State and Carver, the Mountaineers fell to Bowling Green 78-76 in overtime. After App State dropped NC Wesleyan, they earned an impressive 61-57 victory at Charlotte. After falling 79-38 at No. 10 Tennessee, the Mountaineers returned home for a pair of contests against Greensboro and Columbia International. So far this season, a pair of App State players are averaging in double-figures led by Adrian Delph (12.0 points). Donovan Gregory is the other App State player to average in double-figures (11.0 points).

STORYLINES:

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY
Troy has completed its nine-game non-conference schedule, and will now turn to the 18-game Sun Belt slate. Following this weekend's series at App State, the Trojans will return home to Trojan Arena for a series against Georgia State.

LEAVING HIS STAMP
Senior Nick Stampley is averaging 15.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in Troy's last three games. After turning in a 17 point, 12 rebound and five blocks, Stampley scored 13 points at Auburn. On Monday night, Stampley scored 16 points and grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds.

LET'S MAKE HISTORY!
With a victory over Appalachian State either Friday or Saturday, Troy would record the first win at App State in school history. Troy is 0-5 in Boone all-time with two of the five losses coming by less than five points. Troy's average margin of defeat in Boone is just seven.

BLOCK Parties ARE COIVD SAFE!
The Trojans have recorded 16 total blocks the last four games. After recording seven against Central Baptist on Sunday, the Trojans turned in six blocks Wednesday night against Samford. Senior Nick Stampley had five of the Trojans six, including his second half block that appeared on the SportsCenter Twitter account.

Roaring Waters
Senior Khalyl Waters continues to impress this season. The combo guard is averaging 9.3 points this season and is shooting an impressive 38-of-41 (92.7%) percent from the line. Waters has recorded at least 20 points in two of his last four games. Waters scored a career-best 21 against Samford on Dec. 16. Waters missed Monday's contest against Carver with a stomach virus but is expected to play this weekend.

SAY ZAY!
Junior Zay Williams continues to be a force for the Trojans inside. Williams is averaging 12.4 points and 7.9 rebounds a game this season. The forward has scored at least 10 points in six of Troy's nine games, and has scored 82 points in his last six games. Troy is 3-12 the last two seasons when Zay doesn't play (11-15 when he does). Troy is 5-1 when Zay scores at least 10 points.

DEFENSE HAS LED To WINS
The Trojans were 7-1 last season when they held teams to 65 points or fewer. Troy's lone loss when holding a team below that mark was at Texas A&M (56-52, loss). The Trojans were also 8-1 last season when holding an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting. Wednesday's win over Samford is the first time that Troy won when a team shot better than 40 percent from the field and scored more than 65 (1-3). So far this season Troy is 4-0 when holding a team below 65 points and 4-0 when holding teams below 40 percent shooting.

REP THE 'T'
Head coach Scott Cross preaches the mantra that the toughest team always wins. So far this season Troy has taken 26 total charges in nine games. The Trojans have taken at least two charges in every game except the UNCW game where they failed to take one. Troy took 80 charges in 31 games a season ago. Nick Stampley took 32 of those 80 (40 percent).

Y-2K
Friday's Contest against App State will Troy's 2,000th game in program history (D-I and D-II).

Troy Set to Open 2021, Sun Belt Play at App State

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Players Mentioned

Nick Stampley

Khalyl Waters

Zay Williams

Kam Woods

Troy University Athletics