Around The Wall – February 15, 2022
Around the Wall is a weekly look at Troy Athletics, recapping the previous week and looking ahead to the next opponent.
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Men’s Basketball
Record: 17-8, 8-4 (3rd Sun Belt)
Upcoming opponents: at Appalachian State (Thursday), at Coastal Carolina (Saturday)
After losing a step against Little Rock this weekend, Troy has a few days to refocus. The Trojans have four games left in the season, and two of them are against the top two teams in the conference.
Fortunately, Troy is staring down an Appalachian State team that just lost a step itself, losing to Georgia Southern. The Mountaineers are last in the conference in scoring, free throw shooting and steals. It’s another case of a team that Troy should be able to beat, but that’s also what I said about Little Rock.
The Mountaineers lead the conference in scoring defense, too.
App State is second in the conference defending threes, only topped by Coastal Carolina… the team Troy plays Saturday. Expect a lot more action in the paint both games.
As for the Chanticleers, they lead the conference in scoring offense, so Saturday’s game cannot be overlooked either.
It’s a gauntlet down the stretch, but barring a complete breakdown, Troy should hang onto a bye spot for the tournament—its first since 2010.
Women’s Basketball
Record: 18-7, 9-2 (1st Sun Belt)
Upcoming opponents: Georgia State (Thursday), Georgia Southern (Saturday)
Stat of the week: Troy is the best in the country at rebounding, with 50 rebounds per game.
The women are in cruise control at this point, and like the men they have four games left in the season. Also like the men, the toughest opponent is last on the list, and for a lesser team I would call this a gauntlet too. The women are just that good right now.
As for this week, Georgia Southern has the best scoring offense in the conference right now, and the Eagles are one of two teams with a higher rebounding margin than Troy. They’re just behind Troy in blocked shots, and they edge Troy in steals.
The similar philosophies will make this game fun to watch Saturday.
Baseball
Upcoming opponents: Holy Cross
Baseball season is here! Opening day of the Skylar Meade era is Friday, and Troy opens the season with a four-game homestand this weekend against Holy Cross (there’s a doubleheader on Saturday.)
Earlier this month, Troy was picked to finish sixth in the conference, and two players were named to the Sun Belt preseason first team: Caleb Bartolero and Rigsby Mosley. D1Baseball named Brady Fuller the No. 2 Impact Freshman in the conference.
The baseball team’s Twitter account gave us some interviews with our new skipper and a few players:
March 18-20, the team is honoring the 1982 Gulf South Conference championship team as part of Alumni Weekend.
Finally, Athletics announced Military Sundays. The Trojans will wear a patriotic-themed uniform and camo hat for every home Sunday game, and you can purchase Community Hero tickets just like for football.
Softball
Record: 4-1
Upcoming events: Trojan Classic (Eastern Kentucky, Nicholls State, Ole Miss)
The women started the season with a 1-0 loss but we’re not going to dwell on that. The Trojans are on a four-game win streak after beating Southern Illinois and Purdue-Fort Wayne twice each.
TUESDAY UPDATE: Leanna Johnson was named Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week. She struck out 28 batters in 17 innings this weekend, holding them to a .094 batting average.
Now the women head up to Birmingham to play UAB on Wednesday. The Blazers are 1-4 with two losses to Louisiana this past weekend. They hit well against Tulsa, but the Cajuns blanked them to start the season.
This weekend, the women host another five-game invitational against Nicholls State, Eastern Kentucky and Ole Miss. If the women can at least double their win total this week, that would be a great way to build momentum going into the two Power Five invites the next two weekends.
Men’s Golf
Rank: 9th Sun Belt
Upcoming events: Savannah Harbor Invite
The men get their spring season started this weekend at an intercollegiate tournament in Savannah, Georgia.
They’re looking to keep the momentum going after finishing fourth at The Battle at Black Creek in October, beating out Southern Miss and Western Kentucky but falling just behind App State.
Troy plays four events after this one before the conference tournament at the end of April.
Women’s Golf
Rank: 8th Sun Belt
Upcoming events: Benbow Invitational (March 7-8, Hosted by Butler in Jacksonville)
The women wrapped up the First Coast Classic on Tuesday. They were 6th out of ten teams, beating Georgia State but falling behind Arkansas State and South Alabama.
Alyssa Mercado played as an individual, so her score didn’t count for Troy, but she came in 12th with a 2-over 74 on Tuesday.
Elizabeth Preus was Troy’s official highest-finishing golfer in 16th. She shot a 4-over 76 to jump 11 spots the second day.
Bruna Roqueta finished in a tie for 19th, ShaeLee Scarberry finished 24th, Anna Claire Little tied for 34th and Elizabeth Caldarelli tied for 41st.
The women won’t hit the links again until the Benbow Invitational in March.
Men’s Tennis
Record: 6-3 (3rd Sun Belt)
Upcoming opponents: HEB Invitational (Corpus Christi, Texas)
After beating Alabama State and Augusta (NOT Alabama A&M), the men’s five-game winning streak ended against UNC Wilmington. For the most part, the Trojans hung tough against Wilmington.
For one, Carles Anton took on the No. 112 player in the country and lost 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). The effort it took to get that close is worth the praise and deserving of a national ranking, at least in our book.
Now the Trojans hit the road to Corpus Christi for a two-match invitational. When they return, they’ll host Middle Georgia State on Tuesday.
Women’s Tennis
Record: 3-2 (4th Sun Belt)
Upcoming opponents: at North Alabama (Thursday)
Now that’s what I’m talking about. The women started the season with two losses to two good teams, but this weekend they swept the three closest teams with the name “Alabama” or “A&M.” The Trojans only gave up four matches in the past week.
Now they head north to Florence and the Lions, looking to pick up another win before hosting the Blue-Gray Classic at the end of the month.
The full conference slate starts in March for both men’s and women’s tennis.
One Cool Thing
I think we all know what is going here. The coolest thing I saw all week was the return of Classic T-Roy at the 258 Anniversary game, and most of all the announcement video.