By Drew Champlin
Troy got back to playing the way it was in December and early January with the big win over ULM. Not sure what to think - has Troy turned a corner, or was it a win over a bad team? I don’t think ULM is that bad, seeing that the Warhawks beat Iowa on the road and had played very well its last two games. It’s the same team plus more players that was the league’s No. 4 seed last year in the tournament.
The X-factor on this team is Trayce Macon. Usually on teams like this - average but not great - if the No. 3 scorer plays well, the team wins. Look at games like this one and vs. Arkansas State where Macon played well. Look at the UALR game and the ULL game where he didn’t. The 6-foot-8 sophomore has the frame to pack on 220 pounds. He’s at around 190 right now and a very raw player still, though he looks pretty chiseled. He didn’t start for his JUCO team last year so he’s still got a ways to go in his development. The good thing for Troy was they got him early and he’s still got over half of his college career left.
Mike Vogler played really well, I thought. Kenny Ware was great early, Mario Telfair and Tom Jervis showed up as well. For Troy, its bench has to play well for it to be good. If its bench plays well, it can beat New Orleans on the road Saturday.
Posted by Drew Champlin on 01/31 at 11:57 PM
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By Drew Champlin
Troy’s football team was honored and presented at halftime of the basketball game with the Sun Belt Conference Championship (or co-champinonship, or whatever) trophy. Several seniors were on hand - Greg Whibbs, Marcus Richardson, Josh Allen, Chris Bradwell, Shawn Todd and Leodis McKelvin. Might have been another one or two.
I talked to a couple of them briefly about the pros. Leodis McKelvin had a great week at the Senior Bowl but didn’t play in the game because his hamstring tightened up and they didn’t want to risk injury. I asked him what he’s hearing and he said if he runs the 40-yard dash well at the combine, he could go Top 10 in the NFL Draft.
Spoke with Whibbs, Troy’s record-setting kicker. His agent has talked to a few teams but the Philadelphia Eagles have been in personal talks with Whibbs. Philly has an old kicker named David Akers who isn’t bad, but makes a lot of money. Somewhere between 2-3 million. If they take Whibbs and he’s even equal in performance, they keep a guy like Whibbs for $300K, dump Akers and sign a free agent at a position of need.
Just talked to them, but football/recruiting/spring training/NFL talk seems to bring a lot of hits to this blog.
Posted by Drew Champlin on 01/31 at 08:33 PM
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By Drew Champlin
What: UL-Monroe (8-12, 2-6) at Troy (9-11, 2-7)
When: 7:30 p.m. CST Jan. 31
Where: Trojan Arena
Last time out: Troy lost to ULL 87-66. ULM beat MTSU 82-69
Probable starting lineups
TROY
G-Jerome Odem (6’1, 160, Sr.) - 7.0 ppg
G-O’Darien Bassett (6’2, 190, Sr.) - 18.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg
F-Justin Jonus (6’6, 220, Sr.) - 13.4 ppg
F-Trayce Macon (6’8, 191, Soph.) - 8.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg
C-Jarvis Acker (6’6, 210, Sr.) - 6.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg
UL-MONROE
G-Kenneth Averette (5’8, 150, So.) 1.6 ppg
G-Tony Hooper (5’11, 165, Jr.) 16.1 ppg
G-Lance Brasher(6’2, 215, Sr.) 8.6 ppg, 5.3
G-Jonas Brown(6’3, 180, Sr.) 12.9 ppg
F-Afam Nweke (6’7, 220, Jr.) 5.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg
What to watch for: Well, this battle is to see who is officially in the cellar in the Sun Belt. Troy’s there right now, but by half-a-game and both teams have a league-low 2 wins. ULM had a good win out of conference at Iowa, but the projected West champs in preseason lost six straight to open the Sun Belt schedule. ULM has turned a corner in winning its last two. Watch for Jordan Payne, a guard, off the bench as he’s scoring 14.4 ppg. If there’s a team smaller than Troy anywhere, it’s ULM. Losing the rebounding battle to this team is inexcusable, but Troy must guard its shooters. Justin Jonus is questionable with back spasms and the Trojans are on a big-time cold streak. Remember back when guys like Mike Vogler, Tom Jervis, Mario Telfair and Brandon Hazzard were making better contributions off the bench? That was when Troy was beating North Texas and nearly beating South Alabama and Western Kentucky. It seems like the bench players for the Trojans have hit a wall of late and must step their game back up.
Player to watch, Troy: Brandon Hazzard. In fairness to him, he’s missed the better part of four games because of an ankle sprain. His 12-point outburst Sunday against ULL, with 10 coming in a short stretch, reminded people of the games in pre-conference, especially when he rang up 27 against Jacksonville and 20 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He’ll get plenty of minutes and shots if Jonus can’t play.
Player to watch, ULM: Tony Hooper. ULM goes as Hooper, one of the league’s best guards, goes. He shot poorly in ULM’s first few conference games but has played well in the last two.
Troy will win if: it gets better contributions off its bench and doesn’t give up 15 3-pointers.
ULM will win if: its guards are hot with Hooper leading the way.
Drew’s prediction: Troy 84-80
Posted by Drew Champlin on 01/31 at 12:08 AM
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By Drew Champlin
Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated wrote a feature on Osi Umenyiora in this week’s magazine.
There’s the link. It’s on page 36 in the magazine. It’s got some Troy references in it.
Posted by Drew Champlin on 01/30 at 10:37 PM
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