Troy University Athletics
Saturday, January 23
Conway, S.C.
2 p.m.
Troy University
6-9,1-5Sun Belt
65
at
70
Coastal Carolina
11-3,5-2Sun Belt
1
2
F
Troy
36
29
65
Coastal Carolina
25
45
70
Woods’ Career Performance Not Enough as Early Lead Slips Away at Coastal
1/23/2021 7:14:00 PM | Basketball (M)
CONWAY, S.C. -- Despite leading by as many as 14 points for the second consecutive night, and a stellar 28-point outing from freshman Kam Woods, the Troy men's basketball program fell to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Saturday after at the HTC Center.
Reaching the 20-point plateau for the second consecutive night, Woods scored an identical 14 points in both halves, shooting and efficient 10-of-19 from the floor, and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
For the weekend, Woods scored 49 points on 17-of-35 shooting. The Bessemer native now has scored at least 20 in three of his last four games, and has four games with at least 20, the second most by a Troy freshman since 2004.
Starting quickly for the second consecutive night, the Trojans (6-9, 1-5 Sun Belt) scored 14 of the first 16 to take a 14-2 lead with 14:01 to play in the opening half.
After Four straight 3-pointers from the Chanticleers (11-3, 5-2 Sun Belt) cut the Troy lead to just 17-14, scored five straight to extend its lead to 22-14.
Coastal Carolina would twice cut the Troy advantage to just five, but 12-3 outburst highlighted by two triples from Woods, gave Troy a 34-20 advantage with 2:41 to play.
The Trojans did allow Coastal Carolina to score five of the next seven the rest of the half, cutting that 14-point lead to just 11 (36-25) at the break.
For the second consecutive night, the Trojans held CCU star Devante' Jones in check, as the junior guard managed just one point in his 16 minutes and 38 seconds of action.
Following the halftime break, the Trojans forced a miss Jones layup, but the senior was immediately able to steal a pass and went coast-for-coast for his first field goal.
16 seconds later, Jones connected on his first 3-pointer, that extended Coastal's run to 5-0 and cut the Trojans advantage to 36-30. The spurt prompted a Troy timeout from coach Scott Cross.
Woods did nail a triple after the timeout, but Jones scored four of the next six points, cutting the Troy lead to just 41-36 at the under-16 media timeout.
Coastal scored 11 of the next 13 to take a 47-43 advantage with 12:54 to play. In total, Coastal scored 22 total points in just eight minutes and six seconds of game action.
After a pair of Woods free throws cut the CCU lead to just 47-45, Coastal scored the next six to take a 53-45 lead with 10:28 to play.
Playing with four fouls, freshman Duke Miles connected on a layup with 7:25 to play that capped a 6-2 Troy spurt, and brought the Trojans to within 55-51.
Two minutes later, Miles seemed to poke the ball out of Ahmard Harvey's hands, but R.B. Olyburn whistled the guard for a questionable foul call that disqualified Miles and sent Cross and the Trojan bench into a fury.
The outburst earned the Cross a pair of technical fouls and disqualified the coach from the remainder of the contest.
More importantly, it gave the Chants the opportunity to shoot four free throws by any player on the court. In the end, it was Jones who was selected by the CCU staff, and the New Orleans native connected on all four attempts. Combined with a free-throw make from Harvey, the run extended Coastal's lead to 60-51 with 4:57 to play.
Led by Woods, the Trojans scored seven of the next nine points of the next 3:17 of game action, cutting the CCU lead to just 61-58.
On the ensuing Chants possession, guard Ebrima Dibba nailed a clutch layup that extended the Trojan deficit to 63-58 with 1:13 to play.
Woods would attack the rim, draw a foul and hit a pair of free-throws that cut the CCU lead to just 63-60 with 55 ticks to play.
Three seconds later, Middle Tennessee transfer Tyrik Dixon carved through the Trojan defense for a layup, but Kam Woods nailed his fourth and final triple of the contest to cut the defecit to just 65-63.
On the most important possession of the game, it was the Swedish born Dibba who nailed a late-clock triple that gave CCU a 68-63 lead with 14 seconds to play.
After a Troy turnover resulted in one last Dibba layup, Woods beat the buzzer for one last layup that the freshman 28 total points. The 28 are the most by a true freshman since Wesley Person scored 31 points against UT Arlington back in 2014-15 (Dec. 5).
HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"We played about as well as we could have in the first half. We scrapped, we were getting loose balls. In the second half they came out and were the tougher team. We were passive and had a couple of live-ball turnovers. That was really the difference to me. They turned the ball over 19 times and we had only six steals. We turned the ball over 15 times and they had 12 steals. Those steals directly lead to easy baskets. We didn't give up any easy points in the first half, but in the second half they used those steals to get quick, easy baskets. For me that was probably the difference to me. I thought Dez did a great on Jones in the first half and really shut him down. In the second half, nobody could stop him similar to last night. But Dez is starting to play with a little more confidence so hopefully he can continue to build and get back to playing like we know he's capable of."
On Woods:
"Kam was phenomenal again today and is playing like a senior. He's playing with a ton of confidence and is hitting his 3-pointers. He's executing our pick-and-roll and is scoring with his floater. We couldn't have asked for much more out of him."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Woods is now averaging 12.4 points, the most on the Trojans.
• After leading by seven last night, the Trojans enjoyed an 11-point advantage at the break.
• Troy falls to 5-2 this season when leading at the break.
• The Trojans allowed just 61 first half points in the two games. The problem came in the second half when Jones and the Chants scored a combined 99.
• Jones had 24 in the second half last night, and 16 in the second half today.
• After hitting five triples in the first half and shooting 14-of-26, Troy was limited to just two triples and 9-of-33 shooting the second period.
• Zay Williams scored eight points and grabbed 12 rebounds. The junior also had a pair of steals and two blocks.
• Sophomore Dez Williams scored nine of his 11 points in the opening half.
• After having 19 assists a night ago, Troy recorded just seven assists tonight and just two in the second half.
Reaching the 20-point plateau for the second consecutive night, Woods scored an identical 14 points in both halves, shooting and efficient 10-of-19 from the floor, and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
For the weekend, Woods scored 49 points on 17-of-35 shooting. The Bessemer native now has scored at least 20 in three of his last four games, and has four games with at least 20, the second most by a Troy freshman since 2004.
Starting quickly for the second consecutive night, the Trojans (6-9, 1-5 Sun Belt) scored 14 of the first 16 to take a 14-2 lead with 14:01 to play in the opening half.
After Four straight 3-pointers from the Chanticleers (11-3, 5-2 Sun Belt) cut the Troy lead to just 17-14, scored five straight to extend its lead to 22-14.
Coastal Carolina would twice cut the Troy advantage to just five, but 12-3 outburst highlighted by two triples from Woods, gave Troy a 34-20 advantage with 2:41 to play.
The Trojans did allow Coastal Carolina to score five of the next seven the rest of the half, cutting that 14-point lead to just 11 (36-25) at the break.
For the second consecutive night, the Trojans held CCU star Devante' Jones in check, as the junior guard managed just one point in his 16 minutes and 38 seconds of action.
Following the halftime break, the Trojans forced a miss Jones layup, but the senior was immediately able to steal a pass and went coast-for-coast for his first field goal.
16 seconds later, Jones connected on his first 3-pointer, that extended Coastal's run to 5-0 and cut the Trojans advantage to 36-30. The spurt prompted a Troy timeout from coach Scott Cross.
Woods did nail a triple after the timeout, but Jones scored four of the next six points, cutting the Troy lead to just 41-36 at the under-16 media timeout.
Coastal scored 11 of the next 13 to take a 47-43 advantage with 12:54 to play. In total, Coastal scored 22 total points in just eight minutes and six seconds of game action.
After a pair of Woods free throws cut the CCU lead to just 47-45, Coastal scored the next six to take a 53-45 lead with 10:28 to play.
Playing with four fouls, freshman Duke Miles connected on a layup with 7:25 to play that capped a 6-2 Troy spurt, and brought the Trojans to within 55-51.
Two minutes later, Miles seemed to poke the ball out of Ahmard Harvey's hands, but R.B. Olyburn whistled the guard for a questionable foul call that disqualified Miles and sent Cross and the Trojan bench into a fury.
The outburst earned the Cross a pair of technical fouls and disqualified the coach from the remainder of the contest.
More importantly, it gave the Chants the opportunity to shoot four free throws by any player on the court. In the end, it was Jones who was selected by the CCU staff, and the New Orleans native connected on all four attempts. Combined with a free-throw make from Harvey, the run extended Coastal's lead to 60-51 with 4:57 to play.
Led by Woods, the Trojans scored seven of the next nine points of the next 3:17 of game action, cutting the CCU lead to just 61-58.
On the ensuing Chants possession, guard Ebrima Dibba nailed a clutch layup that extended the Trojan deficit to 63-58 with 1:13 to play.
Woods would attack the rim, draw a foul and hit a pair of free-throws that cut the CCU lead to just 63-60 with 55 ticks to play.
Three seconds later, Middle Tennessee transfer Tyrik Dixon carved through the Trojan defense for a layup, but Kam Woods nailed his fourth and final triple of the contest to cut the defecit to just 65-63.
On the most important possession of the game, it was the Swedish born Dibba who nailed a late-clock triple that gave CCU a 68-63 lead with 14 seconds to play.
After a Troy turnover resulted in one last Dibba layup, Woods beat the buzzer for one last layup that the freshman 28 total points. The 28 are the most by a true freshman since Wesley Person scored 31 points against UT Arlington back in 2014-15 (Dec. 5).
HEAD COACH SCOTT CROSS:
"We played about as well as we could have in the first half. We scrapped, we were getting loose balls. In the second half they came out and were the tougher team. We were passive and had a couple of live-ball turnovers. That was really the difference to me. They turned the ball over 19 times and we had only six steals. We turned the ball over 15 times and they had 12 steals. Those steals directly lead to easy baskets. We didn't give up any easy points in the first half, but in the second half they used those steals to get quick, easy baskets. For me that was probably the difference to me. I thought Dez did a great on Jones in the first half and really shut him down. In the second half, nobody could stop him similar to last night. But Dez is starting to play with a little more confidence so hopefully he can continue to build and get back to playing like we know he's capable of."
On Woods:
"Kam was phenomenal again today and is playing like a senior. He's playing with a ton of confidence and is hitting his 3-pointers. He's executing our pick-and-roll and is scoring with his floater. We couldn't have asked for much more out of him."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• Woods is now averaging 12.4 points, the most on the Trojans.
• After leading by seven last night, the Trojans enjoyed an 11-point advantage at the break.
• Troy falls to 5-2 this season when leading at the break.
• The Trojans allowed just 61 first half points in the two games. The problem came in the second half when Jones and the Chants scored a combined 99.
• Jones had 24 in the second half last night, and 16 in the second half today.
• After hitting five triples in the first half and shooting 14-of-26, Troy was limited to just two triples and 9-of-33 shooting the second period.
• Zay Williams scored eight points and grabbed 12 rebounds. The junior also had a pair of steals and two blocks.
• Sophomore Dez Williams scored nine of his 11 points in the opening half.
• After having 19 assists a night ago, Troy recorded just seven assists tonight and just two in the second half.
Team Stats
TROY
CCU
FG%
.390
.442
3FG%
.292
.391
FT%
.750
.625
RB
35
36
TO
15
19
STL
6
12
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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