Troy men’s basketball team clinches first NCAA Tournament bid since 2017

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March 13, 2025

For only the third time in school history, Troy University will send its men’s basketball team to the NCAA Tournament.

The Trojans defeated Arkansas State in Monday’s Sun Belt conference championship game, taking down the Red Wolves by a final score of 94-81. Led by sophomore forward Myles Rigsby and senior guard Tayton Conerway, Troy mounted a late 24-4 run and erased what was once an eight-point deficit, securing the program’s first March Madness berth since 2017.

NOT DONE YET!!! pic.twitter.com/EQn07MmIcn

— Troy Trojans MBB (@TroyTrojansMBB) March 11, 2025

Conerway, the team’s leading scorer and the 2024-2025 SBC Player of the Year, racked up 21 points and three assists on the afternoon, but his first-half performance was defined by offensive struggles. Going into the locker room, the guard had scored just five points on 22% shooting.

“I went into halftime and was kind of holding my head down a little bit—I was just frustrated with myself, stuff wasn’t going my way,” said Conerway. “My teammates came by me one by one. Coaches too. [They] just said, ‘Get your head up. It’s another 20 minutes. You’ve got to let that past go. There’s no more lessons to be learned, there’s no redos. It’s the last thing.’”

“So I picked my head up, let my team help me out, and the rest showed itself.”

Troy head coach Scott Cross, hired in 2019, has now led the Trojans (23-10, 13-5 SBC) to four consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins, a feat unmatched by any other coach in the program’s Division I history. Cross’ squad won both the Sun Belt regular season title and the Sun Belt tournament title this year.

“I’m just super, super thankful,” Cross said. “So thankful for all the Trojan fans and all of the people that support us. It’s been a long, long journey. We’ve had a lot of lessons [we’ve] learned. Our guys have really, really, these last couple of weeks came together as a team.”

“I felt it in my heart that it could happen, but until it happens, it’s just a feeling.”

“Obviously, you want them to go out there and enjoy the moment,” Cross said. “We want them to play like it’s no different than any other game. It’s an opportunity to show the world how talented they are and how tough they are. They’ve got nothing to lose. Again, this is what they’ve worked so hard for over the last eight months, and here we are.”

“Let’s go out there and shock the world.”

The Trojans will learn the identity of their first-round opponent during the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday, March 16th.

Charles Vaughan is a contributing writer for Yellowhammer News.