Troy opens conference play with 77-59 win over Coastal Carolina
The Troy Trojans opened conference play with a 77-59 win over Coastal Carolina on Thursday night inside Trojan Arena.
Troy used its 10th different starting lineup in 12 games, inserting guard Tahj Small for the second time this season.
Ty Gordon led with 17 points while Darian Adams added 13.
After some hiccups out of the gate, the Trojans quickly took command of the game.
Troy used a 15-2 run early in the first half to take an early double-digit lead and did so with high pressure defense. Through the first nine minutes, Coastal had turned the ball over seven times and had only three made field goals.
The Trojan lead had been run up to 24-10 before the Chanticleers moved into a 1-3-1 zone and began to eat into the lead.
Coastal called off the dogs and moved back into a 2-3, though, and Ty Gordon made them pay. The junior college transfer hit an open three to push Troy’s lead to 31-20 by the final media timeout of the first half. Gordon led the Trojans with 14 points on 4-4 shooting from deep through the first 20 minutes.
Florida native Nick Stampley also had a big hand in Troy’s strong opening half by filling up a stat not found in the box score. The junior drew four charges in the first half alone, helping beef up Coastal’s turnover numbers.
“We don’t win that game without him,” head coach Scott Cross said after the game. “When you take a charge you put a foul them, it’s a turnover and it also makes them more timid when they drive next time.”
As Troy took a 38-24 lead into halftime, Troy’s 14 forced turnovers were the ninth time this season the Trojans had forced double-digit turnovers in a half.
Coastal began to solve its shooting woes in the second half but the Trojans stayed hot. After not scoring in the first half, Adams opened the second with a pair of three pointers.
“I just never lost my confidence,” Adams said after the game. “I know I can shoot the ball. Coach (Cross) keeps telling me to shoot the ball. My teammates give me confidence every time I go out on the floor.”
Gordon added to his total with a three-pointer quickly followed by a Chuck Norman three just before the under-12 minute media timeout to give the Trojans a game-high 21-point lead.
The Chanticleers put together a short 7-0 run but Troy recovered and held Coastal at arm’s length for the remainder of the game thanks in part to Adams’ 11 points in the final 20 minutes.
A Stampley three-pointer, just his second of the season, put a stamp on the first conference win in the Scott Cross era.
Pun unashamedly intended.
Three point defense
Troy sees a lot of three point shots fired up by its opponents. In fact, the Trojans see their opponents shoot a higher percentage of three pointers than 347 other division I teams. With such a high volume of threes going up, it is imperative they don’t go in.
Just an average shooting clip could lead to an advantage for the opponent. It was made even more important with the Chanticleers in town, a team that was second nationally with a 42.8 three point shooting percentage coming into the game.
That wasn’t a problem on Thursday night. Coastal shot 0-9 from deep in the first half and finished 3-21. The three made threes was Coastal’s lowest since making three against Mississippi State on November 24.
“It was a point of emphasis for us all week long to defend the three point line,” Cross said. “We saw they had three guys that were shooting a better percentage than anybody on our team so we knew we had to take that away.”
For the players, it was more a point of pride to prevent the Chanticleers from raining down threes inside Trojan Arena.
“Pride. We didn’t want them to shoot the ball and we didn’t want them to get any open looks,” Adams said. “That was our gameplan in the beginning and we went out there and executed. We knew what we could do and we love defense.”
Gordon off the bench
Gordon has found a role as a scoring bench option lately. Coming off the bench in the last five games, Gordon has reached double-digit points in four of those contests.
“It’s no different from starting and just playing my role,” Gordon said. “Everything will be good.”
Cross sees benefit in having freshman Desmond Williams start ahead of Gordon to work the opponents’ legs before sending Gordon out.
“Ty is a starter that I bring off the bench,” Cross said. “I think Ty benefits by having Des (Williams) kind of wear them down for four minutes and then (Gordon) comes in when they’re a little bit fatigued.”
Small’s second chance
Small made his first start of the season against North Alabama and only played two minutes the entire game. Two days after blowing out his shoe while making a cut during practice in a Zion Williamson-esque incident, the sophomore had his best outing of the year.
“(Small) was awesome,” Cross said. “He did great. He’s very good defensively. Tahj is a smart player.”
Small finished six points, seven rebounds and two assists in 26 minutes of action.
Growing bench
Troy’s young bench is becoming a deep bench over time. Eleven players found the scoreboard on Thursday night and seven hit at least two field goals.
“We’re getting better and better each and every day,” Gordon said. “We’re basically locking in. Everybody is gaining confidence.”
Adams saw the growth in his team really begin when the bottom of the roster was first infused into the starting lineup.
“Our growth really came after the Shorter game,” Adams said. “The two freshmen came out of the redshirts and everybody just stepped it up. Everybody wanted to play and everybody wanted to earn minutes so everybody earned minutes. We’re finally gelling and gaining some chemistry.”
Next up
The Trojans stay home and host the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Saturday. App State opened Sun Belt play with a 81-71 win over preseason favorites South Alabama.