Troy Men’s Basketball Falls to South Alabama 74-71

Thursday, January 18

Mobile, Ala.

7 p.m.

Troy University

11-7,5-1Sun Belt

South Alabama

10-8,3-3Sun Belt

Troy

South Alabama

Troy Men’s Basketball Falls to South Alabama 74-71

1/18/2024 11:01:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

MOBILE, Ala. – It was an intense 40 minutes, but the Troy men's basketball team came up just short on Thursday night, as it fell to South Alabama 74-71 at the Mitchell Center.

The loss snaps Troy's (11-7, 5-1 SBC) six-game winning streak — the longest since the 2016-17 season – and ends the Trojans perfect start to Sun Belt play.

Troy's 5-0 conference start was the best 2003-04 season and was the longest unbeaten conference start since Troy joined the SBC in 2005.
 South Alabama (10-8, 3-3 SBC) got off to a fast start offensively — especially from three-point range. The Jaguars went 6-12 from three in the first half which helped them take a 30-25 lead into the break.

It was an especially cold first half for the Trojans, who shot 27.3 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from three in the first 20 minutes.

The Trojans came out of the locker room in the second half much better offensively, keeping the game in striking distance, and even took a 49-48 lead with just over 10 minutes left to play.

However, South Alabama quickly erupted on an 18-4 run to take a 66-53 lead with six minutes left to play. When things seemed to be getting out of hand for Troy, Thomas Dowd and Christyon Eugene hit back-to-back three-pointers, and Tayton Conerway had a big layup that cut the deficit down to five.

The teams continued to trade buckets, but the Trojans just couldn't quite get the defensive stops needed to take the lead.

Myles Rigsby hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to bring the final score to 74-71.

Eugene led the team in scoring with 18 points on 7-14 shooting. Rigsby had his first career double-double with 11 points and ten rebounds – a new career high. It's just the second double-double by a Trojan this year.

Samuel Tabe had a game-high 19 points to lead South Alabama.

The Trojans finished the night shooting 36.5 percent (23-63) from the field and 30 percent (9-30) from 3-point range.

Positive Takeaways
The Trojans continued to do a good job taking care of the basketball, as they turned it over just 11 times. Troy also forced 14 turnovers, 11 coming off steals.

The rebounding battle was once again won by the Trojans, who grabbed 40 rebounds compared to South Alabama's 36. Troy did a good job generating second-chance opportunities – partly credited to its 15 offensive rebounds – and outscored the Jaguars 16-4 on second-chance points.

Even though it wasn't a clean night offensively, Troy shot the ball better in the second half, going 14-30 from the field and 7-15 from deep.

Thoughts from Coach
Head coach Scott Cross gave his thoughts following the game:

"All the tough and hustle categories, our guys checked those boxes. I think mentally, we just weren't checked in enough. I told our guys that if sometimes you don't feel right, just take a deep breath and relax. I think that's the biggest thing: you're on the road, you think it's harder, the fans are yelling; ain't nothing changed, it's just a game. Don't mentally mess with your mind before the game starts. Don't verbalize it. I think that's why they shot it better than we did. We're too good of a shooting team not to shoot a higher percentage… But we didn't get it done."

Up Next
Troy closes out its two-game road trip on Saturday afternoon as it takes on Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss., at the Reed Green Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Troy Sports Radio Network. Fans can follow live stats at Troystats.com.

Game 18 Notes
• Myles Rigsby had the first double-double of his career on Thursday night with 11 points and a career-high ten rebounds.
• Christyon Eugene had his 14th game in double-figures this season after dropping a team-high 18 points.
• Troy's unbeaten start to conference play came to an end on Thursday. Troy's 5-0 start was its best since the 2003-04 season and its best since joining the Sun Belt in 2005.
• Troy's six-game winning streak also came to an end. It was the longest winning streak since the 2016-17 season when it also won six in a row.
• Troy's road struggles continue, as it moves to 1-6 on the season when playing away from Trojan Arena. Troy is 1-4 in games decided by less than five points.