Men’s Basketball Dominates Toledo to Open Regular Season

Monday, November 4

Troy, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

1-0,0-0Sun Belt

Toledo

0-1,0-0MAC

Toledo

Troy

Men’s Basketball Dominates Toledo to Open Regular Season

11/4/2024 11:13:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2 Photo Gallery 3 Photo Gallery 4

TROY, Ala. – The start to the 2024-25 season couldn't have gone any better for the Troy men's basketball team, as it cruised to a resounding 84-74 win over Toledo in the MAC-SBC Challenge on Monday night in Trojan Arena.

Troy (1-0) entered Monday returning 12 players from last year's squad, and the camaraderie showed early and often as the Trojans offense was humming all night long, especially in the first half when they shot 56.3 percent from the field. Toledo (0-1), who has won the last four regular season titles in the MAC, had no defensive answer to slow down Troy, who had five players score in double figures.

The two teams each came into the regular season with high expectations, as Troy was selected to finish third in the Sun Belt this season, while Toledo was selected to finish fourth. It was also the battle of star sophomores, as Troy's Myles Rigsby is the reigning Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, while Toledo's Javan Simmons earned the same honor in the MAC. Simmons led all scorers with 19 points, but Rigsby had 12 of his own on an extremely efficient 5-7 shooting, while also recording six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

In addition to Rigsby's offense, Troy got good scoring from Tayton Conerway (12), Jackson Fields (10), Theo Seng (10) and Randarius Jones (10). The second half wasn't as clean on the offensive side of the ball, but Troy still shot 48.6 percent to finish the night with a 52.2 shooting clip. It's the best offensive night for Troy since they shot 53.2 percent against Kent State in the MAC-SBC Challenge in Trojan Arena last season.

Troy shot 30.4 percent from 3-point range and 53.8 percent from the line. The Trojans also won the battle in rebounds (42-35), assists (16-15), steals (9-6) and blocks (5-3). The Trojan depth was on full display as the bench outscored the Rocket's bench 35-15.

On defense, the Trojans held the Rockets to 40.6 percent shooting and 3-17 from the 3-point line.

Fields opened the game with a pair of buckets and Troy jumped out to a 6-2 lead at the first media timeout. The Rockets answered back and took a 19-14 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half.

The Trojans who looked out of sorts on both ends of the court, found its rhythm and put together a 12-2 run to take a 26-21 lead, a lead they did not relinquish the rest of the night. The Trojans continued to play strong for the remainder of the half and took a 41-29 lead into the break. Troy held Toledo to 34.3 percent from the field.

Thomas Dowd had all nine of his points in the first half and was 3-6 from the field and buried 2-4 of his 3-point attempts.

The Trojans kept rolling in the second half, as they took a 49-37 lead into the first media timeout and extended the lead to 56-39 just a few minutes later. The smallest Troy's lead got in the second half was 10, which came at the very end of the game. Jones had a team-high eight points in the second half to help propel Troy to its first victory of the season.

Quotable – head Scott Cross
"It was a great steppingstone for us. I was very nervous going into this game. We knew it was going to be a tough and difficult game. They've won four straight MAC championships. You have to be a really high-level basketball team to do that. It's as tough as game to open the season as there is. We were really locked in defensively. We were dominant on the boards for most of the game. All-in-all, you can't be too unhappy with the way the guys played."

Up Next
Troy is back in action on Saturday afternoon as they head to the University of New Orleans for a 4 p.m. tipoff. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats on Troystats.com. Fans can also listen to Barry McKnight on the Troy Sports Media Network.

Game 1 Notes
• Troy moves to 1-0 all-time against Toledo.
• Sun Belt teams went 8-4 in the MAC-SBC Challenge on Monday night.
• Tayton Conerway and Myles Rigsby led Troy with 12 points, with three other players also scoring in double-figures.
• Troy shot 52.2 percent from the field. It's the best offensive night for Troy since they shot 53.2 percent against Kent State in the MAC-SBC Challenge in Trojan Arena last season.
• Monday was Troy's second-largest margin of victory against a DI opponent to open a season in its DI era. The only other larger victory was 11 against Quinnipiac to open the 2005 season.
• Troy won the battle in rebounds (42-35), assists (16-15), steals (9-6) and blocks (5-3). The Troy bench outscored Toledo 35-15.