Official 2019-2020 Troy basketball preview

Troy basketball is set to begin a new era under the leadership of freshly minted head basketball coach Scott Cross.

Cross takes over for Phil Cunningham after the latter produced just one winning season in six years, but winning the Sun Belt tournament in his lone winning season. The former arrives in Troy after a one-year stint as an assistant coach on Jamie Dixon’s TCU staff.

That brief stint as an assistant was preceded by 12 years as the head coach at Texas-Arlington. Cross won at least 21 games in each of his last three seasons at Arlington, including a school record 27 wins in 2016-17. The Mavericks were never quite able to get over the hump and capture a Sun Belt tournament title, though, and Cross was let go after the 2017-18 season.

Cross is now tasked with building a program that has been largely dormant since its brief stay in the A-Sun conference when the Trojans ripped off 80 wins in four years and made its first ever trip to the Big Dance.

The Sun Belt hasn’t exactly been kind to Troy, however. The Trojans have put together a winning conference record just three times in 14 seasons.

It’s hard to call Cross’ task a rebuild with how long it’s been since the last construction of anything. Regardless, the project will be a tall order.

It begins this year with a mix-and-match roster featuring seven returning players and seven newcomers. Featured on that roster is just one returning starter and one senior. It’s a mixed bag of JUCO transfers, high school recruits and returning underclassmen. Darian Adams and Charles Norman are the only upperclassmen who played a full season in 2018-2019.

Roster

Jitaurious Gordon		Guard
6’0, 200 lbs		Junior

Gordon comes to Troy as a scoring guard who dropped over 20 points per game at the junior college level. The junior is no slouch on the other end of the floor, either, according to Cross.

“When he’s fresh, he’s as good defensively as I think I’ve ever coached,” Cross said. “Doing all the little things. Getting his hands up, being loud, being aggressive.”

Tyrek Williams		Forward
6’8, 260 lbs		Freshman

Williams dealt with an injury throughout most of the offseason but, according to Cross, he fought through the entirety of Cross’ Boot Camp program just a week after being cleared.

“He’s going to be a force down low,” Cross said. “He’s going to be a guy when we’re going against bigger bodies, stronger post players we can throw him in there and he can get down there and bang with them.”

Williams was one of the more heavily recruited players Cross brought in. The big had 12 offers, including one from Southern Miss.

Tahj Small		Guard
6’4, 195 lbs		Sophomore

Every team needs three point shooting to at least add balance to an offense or provide sparks off the bench. Small adds that element to the Trojans’ new-look squad.

“Tahj might be our best three point shooter on our team,” Cross said about the JUCO transfer. “He’ll be a guy that’ll start some games for us.”

Desmond Williams		Guard
6’1, 166 lbs		Freshman

Williams is a combo guard from Montgomery that attracted a lot of attention from Sun Belt coaches in high school for do-it-all play out of the backcourt.

“I think he’s a guy that could really harass opposing team’s point guards,” Cross said. “I think he can be extremely disruptive defensively.”

Khalyl Waters		Forward
6’6, 185 lbs		Junior

Waters is a big small forward and undersized power forward, but packs a lot of strength into his frame, according to Cross.

“Great offensive rebounder,” Cross said. “Very strong and athletic. I think he’s got a chance to be a good defender, as well.”

Jakevan Leftridge		Guard
6’4, 177 lbs		Freshman

Cross brought with him some Texas flavor with Dallas native Jakevan Leftridge. Troy was Leftridge’s only offer but was the Texas High School 4A player of the year last season.

Though Cross was the only coach to pull the trigger, at least one major conference team showed interest and made a visit in Kansas State.

Cross says he’s put on some weight since arriving in Troy and has shown improvement through each stage of the offseason. Cross says he could find some minutes this season.

Nick Stampley		Forward
6’6, 210 lbs		Junior

Stampley comes in as far-and-away the highest rated recruit in Troy basketball history, according to 247sports.

“If there was a poster for ‘take the stairs, OKG,’ Nick would be that guy, by far,” Cross said. “He’ll lead us in charges, he’ll lead us in block-outs, he’ll lead us in dives on the floor. He’s a guy that’s going to have to start for us because he does all those things.”

Stampley also has an outside jumper, according to Cross, and could leave a substantial footprint on each game.

KJ Simon		Guard
6’3, 190 lbs		Sophomore

As BJ Millers backup, Simon showed fans a glimpse of the future with his explosive play on both ends of the court last season. When Simon was on the floor, 18.8 percent of all field goals were assisted by him, which second only to Adams.

“KJ is our best all-around athlete,” Cross said. “If he gets to that point where he’s got a 35 percent three point shooting then he’s going to be a problem because if you get up and guard him he’s so strong and such a good athlete that he can finish at the rim.”

Darian Adams		Guard
6’3, 200 lbs		Junior

Adams is the longest tenured Trojan and has seen both the peak of the hill and the bottom of the valley in Troy. Adams was the lone defensive bright spot in the backcourt a season ago and improved his per-40 minute averages across the board.

“(Adams) is our most intelligent basketball player,” Cross said. “He’s like having a coach out on the floor. He has the most influence with our guys. He’s a guy that probably needs to play 25-30 minutes a game.”

Zay Williams		Forward
6’8, 185 lbs		Sophomore

Long and athletic, Williams showed plenty of potential in last year’s campaign despite playing under 10 minutes per game. According to Cross, he’s starting to realize some of that potential.

“Zay will probably be the guy that’s blossomed the most since I’ve taken over the program,” Cross said. “In our first scrimmage, I thought he was probably the best player out of both teams. I am excited to have three years with him.”

Charles Norman		Guard
6’2, 180 lbs		Senior

The only senior on the team, “Chuck” was Troy’s go-to option beyond the arc last season but struggled with bouts of inconsistency. Norman has developed the other end of his game, though, making him a valuable asset.

“Chuck won defensive boot camp competition so that right there tells you he’s definitely one of our toughest guys,” Cross said. “He’s a bulldog and he’s tough.”

Davion Thomas		Forward
6’9, 210 lbs		Junior

Thomas, or “Tree,” returns after gaining eligibility midway through last season. He played eight minutes per game in 13 contests, averaging 2.3 points and 1.7 rebounds.

“Him and KJ (Simon) are probably are best two athletes, he’s very quick twitch,” Cross said. “He can cause some problems because of his ability to shoot the basketball. He shoots it as good as most guards.”

Atakan Sahinkaya		Forward
6’5, 205 lbs		Sophomore

The Turkey native appeared in 10 games last season in clean-up duty. In those games he hit five shots, two from deep, and grabbed six rebounds.

“Solid shooter, he’s got a very good feel for the game,” Cross said. “Just a solid all-around basketball player.”

Jalen Tuck		Guard
5’10, 185 lbs		Sophomore

Tuck is the only walk-on on the roster but has made an impact on the team through his effort in practice and during conditioning.

“I love him to death, I would go to war with him,” Cross said. “He’s one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever been around and one of the highest character kids I’ve ever been around.”

 

Offensive footprint

Anybody who watched Troy the past few seasons knows who the ball flowed to on offense. Cunningham’s motion offense was designed to get the ball into the hands of star forward Jordon Varnado’s hands. Varnado’s 29.3 percent usage rate was 73rd highest in the entire country.

With Varnado and Alex Hicks (22.7 usage rate) gone, the roster has become guard-heavy. As a result, Troy will be moving into a four-out set with plenty of ball-screen action from the five spot.

A four-out offense utilizes hard cutting and constant motion to keep opposing defenses alert at all times. The five can use the low post or high post as attacking points or be used in pick-and-roll plays. The four will be active in both on-ball and off-ball screens, as well, in pick-and-pop situations.

 

Defensive footprint

Just one season after being one of the nation’s worst defensive squads, the strengths of the team may be completely flipped this season. With half the team brought in by Cross and the return of Darian Adams, the team’s strongest on-ball defender from last year, the Trojans are in for a big improvement over the 2019-2020 season.

“We’ll be aggressive,” Cross said. “We do play a pack defense so it’ll be more half-court, but it’ll be aggressive on-ball.”

Troy will be a largely man-to-man defense this season designed to give up mid-range jumpers but be suffocating both in the paint and on the perimeter.

Finding leadership

Troy has just one player on the roster who is heading into their fourth season. Six others are heading into their second and seven are brand new to the team. Finding a leader among the group wasn’t going to be easy, but Cross believes the elder statesman could be growing into that role.

“I’m not sure we have an outright, clear-cut leader right now,” Cross said. “I would say the closest right now would be (Adams). At times during the summer and spring, he may not have met the standards we wanted him to meet.

“He just had an OK boot camp. That was an area where he probably didn’t meet the standard for what I expect from a leader. But since then, from that day forward, he has met it and probably exceeded it. On top of that, he’s tried to hold the other guys accountable, as well.”

Projected starting five

	Proj starter
1	Jitarious Gordon
2	Darian Adams
3	KJ Simon
4	Nick Stampley
5	Zay Williams

Troy may utilize a lot of small ball this season with three different players in the backcourt who could all run the point at any given time.

Williams and Stampley are likely to get the large majority of starts in the frontcourt with Stampley starting at the four-spot for potentially 30-plus games.

Schedule

Home games in bold.

7-Nov

UAB

Troy finally found its first win over the Blazers last season and have never beaten UAB inside Trojan Arena.

“The first game I don’t think you have to get guys hyped up,” Cross said. “They’re going to be jacked it’s the first game. It’s almost like you want to do the opposite and calm their nerves.”

Cross expects one of the biggest crowds in program history for the game and wants to reach a point where that type of crowd is commonplace.

“For me that would be a goal when it comes to attendance,” Cross said. “By the time we get to (conference play) we’ve it got it kind of rolling and people are just wanting to come to the games.”

12-Nov	Chattanooga
16-Nov	Indiana

Troy does not shy away from playing major conference teams on the road, but will be playing Indiana for the first time. Cross says he not only wants to play these type of games, but also play in buildings with a rich basketball tradition.

“I kind of would like to play at all the meccas of college basketball,” Cross said. “Indiana is one of the most storied and tradition rich basketball programs ever. I am excited about it.”

18-Nov	Carver
20-Nov	Texas A&M

Cross makes his return to the state of Texas on November 20 and will be coaching against his former coach Buzz Williams. Cross wanted to play Marquette when Williams was the coach there but Williams declined, saying “I don’t play friends.”

As fate would have it, they’ll be on opposite ends of the scorers table this year.

“He’s highly competitive and so I am I,” Cross said. “We’ll hook it up but after the game we’ll still be friends.”

23-Nov	Samford
25-Nov	Alabama A&M
30-Nov	Shorter
4-Dec	North Alabama
11-Dec	Jacksonville State
15-Dec	Chattanooga
19-Dec	Coastal Carolina

Conference play somehow keeps getting earlier and earlier. There was a time where a conference wasn’t played until around the new year, but Troy and Coastal will be opening Sun Belt play a week before Christmas this year.

Cross hopes to at least have a winning record by this point.

“That first game is huge,” Cross. “You definitely want to get off to a good start in conference.

21-Dec	Appalachian State
2-Jan	Louisiana-Monroe
4-Jan	Louisiana-Lafayette
6-Jan	Texas State
9-Jan	Little Rock
11-Jan	Arkansas State
16-Jan	Georgia Southern
18-Jan	Georgia State
22-Jan	Little Rock
25-Jan	Arkansas State
30-Jan	Georgia Southern
1-Feb	Georgia State
7-Feb	South Alabama

It’s been four years since Troy has played on national TV at home. When the Jaguars come into town, so will ESPNU.

When drudging through a long conference season, Cross says its important to it one day at a time.

“Your mentality has to be one game at a time, one day at a time,” Cross said. “You can’t really look at the finish line. You have to put blinders on the guys almost. Let’s just get better today.”

13-Feb	Louisiana-Monroe
15-Feb	Louisiana-Lafayette
20-Feb	Coastal Carolina
22-Feb	Appalachian State
29-Feb	South Alabama
3-Mar	Texas-Arlington

The Sun Belt granted the league a good one to end the season. Texas-Arlington will make the trip to Troy for the teams only regular season game. Cross understands the significance of the game and hopes to see maximum effort from the team, but also plans to treat it as any other game.

“I would hope that our guys played as hard as they’ve ever played that game,” Cross said. “It’ll be starred on everybody’s calendar. In the grand scheme of things it’s just another game. We have to treat it exactly the same.

“I don’t think it’s a game I have to give our guys a big pep talk. I think they’re going to understand that I was fired from there. They know how competitive I am and we’ll all really want to win this game.”

Expert analysis

Kevin Sweeney covers the college hoops in its entirety at CBBCentral.com. You can read his Sun Belt preview here.

Scott Cross teams are fairly consistent stylistically from season to season. In the past, his clubs have played fast, taken a lot of threes, moved the ball well, and looked to force turnovers on the defensive end. He recruits to that system– ideally, a speedy point guard who can captain things on the floor and create shots for himself and others (think Erick Neal at UT-Arlington), lots of rangy wings who can play multiple positions, and a traditional center.

When looking at a multi-year rebuild, the biggest things Cross can hope for in year one is to successfully establish his culture and to find a few players who can be building blocks for his program. The challenge with going JUCO-heavy on a first class like Cross did is that it makes it somewhat harder to build a group together. Unless nearly this entire class “hits”, it’s hard to believe this team will be in the mix for a Sun Belt title next year. However, if the majority of the minutes are being eaten by these JUCO products, younger talent doesn’t get the chance to truly emerge.

That said, Cross wants to win games right away– every coach does. These older newcomers give him the best chance to do that. The most critical piece in that incoming group is Jitaurious Gordon, who profiles as the type of scoring point guard Cross loves. For this team to steal some wins in the Sun Belt this season, Gordon has to be a starting-caliber PG from the outset.