Troy University Athletics
Troy University
16-8,10-2Sun Belt
Marshall
12-13,7-5Sun Belt
Men’s Basketball Dominates Marshall, Extends Win Streak to Five
2/7/2024 10:42:00 PM | Basketball (M)
TROY, Ala. – The Troy men's basketball team continues to roll at home this season, as it picked up its 11th straight home victory at Trojan Arena on Wednesday night as it defeated Marshall 82-66 and moved into a tie for first place in the Sun Belt standings.
Troy (16-8, 10-2 SBC) is the only team in the Sun Belt Conference to have double-figure conference victories in each of the last three seasons. The Trojans moved into a tie atop the SBC standings following App State's loss to Texas State on Wednesday night. Each team is 10-2 in conference play, with Troy having the tiebreaker due to its win over the Mountaineers on Jan. 6 at home.
The Trojans controlled the game from the start, and Marshall (12-13, 7-5 SBC) had no answer for Troy's physical play in the paint. Thomas Dowd led the way for the Trojans with his second double-double of the season, as he scored 12 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds.
It wasn't the best shooting night for the Trojans – especially early on – as they shot just 36.8 percent from the field in the first half, but that didn't matter all that much as Troy forced Marshall into nine first-half turnovers that resulted in 14 points. The Trojans also outscored the Thundering Herd 24-2 in the paint in the first 20 minutes.
Dowd picked up 10 of his 13 boards before halftime and helped Troy take a 40-24 lead into the break.
The Trojans' offense erupted coming out of the locker room, as they scored 20 points in the first 4:34 of the second half to bring its lead to a game-high 27 points. Troy's offense was more efficient in the final frame, as it shot 43.2 percent.
On the night the Trojans shot 40 percent (30-75) from the field and knocked down nine of 29 three-pointers (31 percent). Troy also capitalized on its trips to the charity stripe, as it successfully converted 13 of 15 free-throw attempts. Myles Rigbsy took nine of those and made eight.
The freshman forward has continued his impressive play as of late, as Rigsby has now scored in double-figures in each of the last five games after scoring a game-high 19 points on Wednesday. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Rigsby is now tied for third on the team in scoring with 11 points per game. In conference play, he is averaging 14.2 points – second on the team – while shooting 51.6 percent from the field, 53.8 percent from 3-point range and 88.9 percent from the line.
Also having big days offensively were Aamer Muhammad – 17 points – and Tayton Conerway – 13 points. Christyon Eugene only had eight points but scored his 900th career point in the victory.
In addition to the high-scoring performance, the Trojan defense locked down the Thundering Herd's offense and held them to just 39 percent from the field. Troy moves to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in conference play when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting.
Paint Warriors
The Trojans finished the night outscoring Marshall 42-20 in the paint and completely overwhelmed them on the glass.
Troy outrebounded Marshall 49-38 and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds – something they have done in each of the last three games. In addition to Dowd's team-high 13 rebounds – the most by any Trojan in a game this season – Jackson Fields set a new career-high with 10 rebounds. Wednesday marked the first time since March 3, 2023, against Arkansas State in the SBC Tournament, that Troy had two double-figure rebounders in the same game.
Chaos Creators
Marshall turned it over 14 times, with 13 of those turnovers coming off Troy steals. Entering Wednesday's game, Troy was 12th in the country and first in the Sun Belt in steals per game at 9.7. Conerway had a team-high five steals and has 42 on the season to lead the team.
The Trojans scored 23 points off Marshall's turnovers compared to the Thundering Herd's 10 points off turnovers. Troy turned it over just eight times.
Thoughts from Coach
Head coach Scott Cross gave his thoughts following the game:
"Overall, I am pleased with the way we played. We started a little slow in the first couple of minutes, but after that timeout, we started going. We started extremely strong in the second half but did get very, very sloppy. That's been a bad trend for us. When we get up 20 points, we tend to get sloppy… For me, it's about getting better every single possession and every single game. But, overall I am very pleased. The guys did battle, and anytime you get 19 offensive rebounds and 13 steals, you can't really complain about the effort."
Up Next
Troy takes a one-game break from conference play as it welcomes MAC opponent Kent State for the second game of the MAC-SBC Challenge on Saturday at Trojan Arena. Tip-off is set for 3:33 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Troy Sports Radio Network. Live stats will also be available at TroyStats.com.
Game 24 Notes
• Troy is the only team in the Sun Belt with double-figure conference wins in each of the last three seasons.
• The Trojans have now won five straight games. It's the second time this season Troy has put together a five-game winning streak.
• Troy has won its 11th straight game at Trojan Arena and moved to 13-1 at home this season. That is the most home wins for the Trojans since they went D-I in the 1993-94 season and the most wins at home since the 1992-93 season (13).
• Thomas Dowd recorded his second double-double of the season as he scored 12 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds – the most rebounds by a Trojan this season.
• Jackson Fields had a career-high 10 rebounds in the victory. His previous best was seven.
• Wednesday marked the first time since March 3, 2023, against Arkansas State in the SBC Tournament, that Troy had two double-figure rebounders in the same game.
• Myles Rigsby dropped 19 points and had eight rebounds. He has now scored in double-figures in five straight games. He is tied for third on the team in points with 11.0.
• Troy has grabbed 40-plus rebounds in three straight games and 19 or more offensive rebounds in each of those performances.
• Troy is now tied for the top spot in the Sun Belt standings after App State fell at Texas State on Wednesday night. The Trojans hold the tiebreaker due to its win over the Mountaineers on Jan. 6 at home.
• Christyon Eugene had only eight points Wednesday but scored his 900th career point in the victory and sits 96 points away from 1,000.
