A Century of Success: Troy’s 1922-23 Basketball Season
One hundred years ago Monday is the date of the first recorded win in Troy University Men’s Basketball history. State Normal School beat Elba 20-13, kicking off a century of success.
In 1922-23, the men and women’s teams put together winning seasons—6-4 and 12-6, respectively. The shortened schedules featured local high school teams (and Montevallo), and the final results were all over the place.
The Palladium yearbook doesn’t list results for the men’s 1922 half of the season, but it says the women opened with a six-game win streak, dropping 131 points and holding their opponents to 25 total.
Captain Lizbeth McMillan and another forward, Catherine Anderson, led the team in scoring.
The women suffered their first loss on a trip to Montevallo, the earliest recorded mention of Troy’s basketball team ever. The Selma Times-Journal covered the women’s 10-16 loss, which happened January 13, 1923 and made print the next day.
The women followed that up by beating Marbury, then ended the season on a two-game losing streak against Prattville (3-8; that’s the final score) and Women’s College (20-28).
A 7-3 record at that point isn’t too shabby, especially when there’s no results for the men at all. All the Palladium says is that losses were “seldom, very seldom.”
The 1923 notes are more detailed, providing dates to go with the men’s scores.
In the 1923 calendar year, the men rattled off wins and losses in order from January 16 to February 10. After a season-opening win at Elba, Greenville smoked State Normal School 52-16.
Most games this season were effectively “first to 20.” After a one-point win over Ozark, Troy went back and forth in four games that had an average score of 24-8.
On Valentine’s Day, Troy flipped the script, blowing out Ozark 58-14 and ending the shuffle.
Then Headland came to town and beat Troy, followed by an Elba win to end the record. The Palladium mentions “two or three more games to be played,” but the 6-4 record is where the men’s season officially stands.
At 5-3, the women’s 1923 season was less of a rollercoaster but mathematically more successful. The women started the new year with a road win at Luverne, before dropping another game to Montevallo.
Then Troy routed Samson 31-6, swept Ramer to make it a three-game streak, and brought its 4-1 record to the table in the final game against Montevallo. The away team completed its own sweep, beating the women by just two points.
Troy dropped a heartbreaker to Wetumpka in the next game before beating Samson to end the season on a high note.
The women only gave up 20 points twice: the Women’s College loss at the end of 1922 and the heartbreaker against Wetumpka. On the other hand, the men gave up 20 in each of their losses.
Apart from the Ozark blowout, the men averaged 21 points in their wins and 11 in their losses.
A full century later, Troy’s men and women have nearly the same record as their earlier counterparts. Interestingly, the men kicked off their season against Montevallo, winning 87-67.
Some things never change.