Troy Sweeps Louisiana with Dominant 87-73 Win

Wednesday, February 28

Lafayette, La.

7 p.m.

Troy University

20-10,13-4Sun Belt

Louisiana

17-13,9-8Sun Belt

Troy

Louisiana

Troy Sweeps Louisiana with Dominant 87-73 Win

2/28/2024 11:54:00 PM | Basketball (M)

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Troy men's basketball team picked up a dominant 87-73 win over Louisiana on Wednesday night in the CAJUNDOME to sweep the Ragin' Cajuns for just the second time ever after doing it in the 2004-05 season.

Troy (20-10, 13-4 SBC) is now the only team in the Sun Belt to have won 20 or more games in each of the last three seasons. It's also the first time in Troy's D-I history that it won 20 or more games in three straight seasons.

With the win, the Trojans clinched a top-3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament. Troy will open its tournament action next Saturday night at the Pensacola Bay Center.

A key in the Trojans victory was its ability to convert free throws. Troy went 38-42 from the free-throw line, which is the second most made free throws in its D-I history and the third most in program history. Troy made 41 free throws against DeVry in its 258-point game and 40 against Louisiana on Feb. 11, 2017.

Tayton Conerway had a very impressive game and went 13-14 from the line. It's his best collegiate free-throw shooting performance. Troy was 30-30 from the line before missing its first attempt.

The Trojans got off to a great start in the first 20 minutes on both ends of the court. Everything was clicking offensively as the Trojans jumped out to a 16-point lead with 7:43 left in the half before Louisiana completely took over for the remainder of the half.

The Ragin' Cajuns went red-hot from the field and kept Troy without a field goal for the last 4:55 of the half and were able to cut the halftime deficit all the way down to four. Louisiana was at 52 percent from the field heading into the locker room and outscored the Trojans 24-10 in the paint.

Troy responded well after the poor end to the first half, as they opened the final 20 minutes on a 15-4 run and got the lead back up to nine in the first 4:06. Victor Valdes buried a pair of three-pointers to help spur the offensive run. Valdes finished the night with 13 points on 3-5 shooting and knocked down a trio of three-pointers.

The Trojans extended the lead all the way to 22 with 7:57 remaining in regulation, and while Louisiana cut the lead down to nine with 1:39 left, they never got closer than that, and Troy buried its free throws to ice the game.

The Number
Christyon Eugene had another strong night, as he put together a team-high 18 points on 5-8 shooting while burying both of his 3-point attempts and converting on all six of his trips to the free-throw line.
Conerway finished the night with 15 points and Aamer Muhammad added 12.

Troy only shot 38.5 percent on the night – including 40.9 percent from deep. Louisiana finished at 46 percent and was led by Kobe Julien's 21 points. The difference in the game was three-point shooting – Louisiana was 1-12 from distance – and free throw shooting. Troy finished at 90.5 percent from the line, compared to the Ragin' Cajuns' 74.3 percent (26-35).

In addition to Troy's ability to put points on the board, it also made life difficult for the Louisiana offense. The Ragin' Cajuns turned it over 20 times, and the Trojans recorded 16 steals. Conerway had a team-high six steals, while Myles Rigsby had five. Troy won the points-off-turnovers battle 29-18.

Rigsby finished the night with just eight points – snapping his ten-game double-figure streak – but was a game-high plus-26 while on the court. In addition to his steals, Rigsby also had a career-high six assists on the night.

The Trojans outrebounded Louisiana 34-30, and Eugene had a team-high eight rebounds.

Thoughts from Coach
Head coach Scott Cross gave his thoughts on the victory:

"To be able to hit as many free throws as we did on the road is a phenomenal tribute to our guys for being locked in mentally… to start 30-30, I don't know if I have ever been part of something like that. That's guys being really locked in mentally. We played hard. We played solid defense. Did a pretty good job of rebounding the ball. But I'm proud of our guys. This is a huge win for the program. To get 20 wins in the regular season is pretty special."

Cross on Sweeping Louisiana
"I have a ton of respect for Coach Marlin. One of of the best coaches around…they are well-coached and tough to beat. Phenomenal all-around win for our guys."

Up Next
The Trojans head to the Lonestar State for its regular season finale against Texas State on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+, the Troy Sports Radio Network and Troystats.com.

Game 30 Notes
• With the win, Troy has now won 20 or more games in three straight seasons for the first time in its D-I history. The Trojans are also the only team in the SBC with 20 or more wins in each of the last three seasons.
• Troy made 38-42 free throws, which is the third most makes in program history and second most in D-I history. The Trojans made 41 against DeVry in its 258-point game in 1992 and made 40 against Louisiana in 2017.
• Christyon Eugene had a team-high 18 points and has scored in double-figures in 25 of 30 games this season. He is nine points shy of 1,000 career points.
• Myles Rigsby's double-figure scoring streak came to an end on Wednesday after he scored just eight points. He did have a team-high six assists and recorded five steals.
• The Trojans clinched no worse than the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament with the win. The exact seeding will be determined on Friday night following the conclusion of all conference games. Regardless, Troy will open tournament play on Saturday night.
• Troy sweeps Louisiana for the first time since the 2004-05 season. Troy has now won three straight games against the Ragin' Cajuns, the longest streak in program history in program history.
• Troy moves to 9-22 all-time against Louisiana.