Men’s Basketball Travels to New Orleans for First Road Contest – Troy University Athletics

TROY, Ala. – After picking up a massive home win over Toledo to open its season, the Troy men’s basketball team hits the road for the first time in 2024-25, traveling to New Orleans for a contest with the Privateers.
 
Troy welcomed Toledo to Trojan Arena to open the 2024-25 campaign on Monday night in the MAC-SBC Challenge and shot the lights out en route to an 84-74 win over the four-time defending MAC regular season champions. New Orleans opened their season on Tuesday night with an 89-65 loss on the road to Kansas State.
 
This will be the seventh meeting between the schools, with the all-time series tied at 3-3. All six previous games came when both teams were in the Sun Belt Conference.
 
Game Information
Matchup: Troy (1-0) at New Orleans (0-1)
When: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024 | 4 p.m.
Where: New Orleans, La. | Lakefront Arena
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Troy Sports Media Network
Live Stats: TroyTrojans.com
 
Cleared for Liftoff
The Trojans dominated the Rockets on Monday night, and got double-digit scoring from five players, including three starters. Myles Rigsby and Tayton Conerway tied for a team-high 12 points, while Jackson Fields, Theo Seng and Randarius Jones added 10 each. Troy shot 52.2 percent from the field, while knocking down 30 percent of its three pointers.
 
It was also a defensive masterclass from Troy, as it held the high-powered Toledo offense to 40 percent shooting and 3-17 from 3-point range. Troy out-rebounded Toledo 42-35 and forced 11 turnovers.
 
Fields had one the best games of his career, putting up 10 points on 5-6 shooting while also grabbing four rebounds in just 13 minutes of action.
 
Of the 11 players who checked in for Troy, nine of them recorded six or more points.
 
The win was Troy’s fifth consecutive season-opening win, and its second-largest margin of victory against a DI opponent to open a season in its DI era. The only other larger victory was 11 against Quinnipiac to open the 2005 season.
 
 
Previewing the Privateers
Ten New Orleans players made their debut on Tuesday at Kansas State. James White led the team with 34 minutes played. He was second on the team with 14 points and led the team with eight rebounds. Jah Short led UNO with 19 points on 7-12 shooting, including burying a pair of triples.
 
The last time Troy and New Orleans faced off was Dec. 17, 2009, in Troy. The Trojans came out on top with a 78-76 victory.
 
Notables
• Troy is looking to open its season 2-0 for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
• Monday was Troy’s second-largest margin of victory against a DI opponent to open a season in its DI era. The only other larger victory was 11 against Quinnipiac to open the 2005 season.
• Scott Cross is in his sixth season at the helm for Troy men’s basketball, and his 18th as a Division I men’s basketball head coach. At Troy he is 81-76 record, and 306-237 overall.
• The Trojans are returning 100 total starts from last season from seven different players. Eugene and Muhammad were the only players who started games last season that are not on the team this season. The Trojans are also returning 262 total games played between 10 players.
• Myles Rigsby and Tayton Conerway each earned preseason Sun Belt honors following a strong 2023-24. Rigsby was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team, while Conerway was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team. It’s the second consecutive season that Troy has had multiple preseason all-conference selections after Muhammad and Eugene each earned the honor prior to last season. 
• Jackson Fields, who started 27 of the 28 games he appeared in last season, and Kameryn Mitchell are the longest tenured Trojans as the pair enter their third season under head coach Scott Cross. All other players are either entering their second year in the program or are new to this year’s team. 
• The Trojans did not add a single player from the NCAA Transfer Portal, nor did they lose a player to the portal. The only non-freshman addition to this year’s team is JUCO transfer Cobi Campbell.