'Definitely a blessing': Even in a loss, Troy savors NCAA Tournament experience

MILWAUKEE – A 19-point loss certainly wasn't the way the Troy Trojans envisioned ending their season.

But minutes after being overwhelmed by college basketball blueblood Kentucky, 76-57, in the teams' first-round NCAA Tournament matchup at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Friday night, there was only sincere gratitude for the opportunity they'd earned.

"Definitely just blessed to be here," said Tayton Conerway, the senior guard who stirred the Trojans' drink all year long with his tough defense and strong all-around play. "It's the type of stuff you dream about in the driveway when you're shooting those last-second shots.

"Now, you're under the big lights. Definitely a blessing."

Added Theo Seng: "It's everything to us. Ever since we were kids, it's what everyone dreamed of. It's a dream come true – especially to do it in our senior year. It was an amazing experience."

BOX SCORE: Kentucky 76, Troy 57

Playing in just their third NCAA Tournament ever and first since 2017, the 14th-seeded Trojans hung with the third-seeded Wildcats for the entire first half and the initial 6 ½ minutes of the second.

It was a performance that had some thinking maybe, just maybe, Troy could be the next Cinderella to slide on the glass slipper against a Wildcats team that had been knocked off in the first round by 14th-seeded Oakland in 2024 and 15th-seeded St. Peter's in 2022.

Then, Kentucky flipped the switch.

Beginning with a Collin Chandler three-pointer with 12 minutes 37 seconds remaining and ending with an Otega Oweh free throw at the 8:04 mark, the Wildcats used a 16-0 run to turn what was a two-possession game for the Trojans into a 22-point deficit.

It was a barrage of threes combined with driving dunks from the athletic Oweh and the monstrous 7-footer Amari Williams – the types of players Troy simply doesn't see in the Sun Belt – that did the damage.

Troy could have rolled over and played dead from there.

But to the Trojans' credit they kept playing and responded with a 9-0 run of their own, sparked by seven points from leading scorer Marcus Rigsby Jr., to at least make the Wildcats work to put them away for good.

And that they did, scoring 12 straight points of their own to eliminate any doubt.

"We knew that they could shoot," said Cross. "You kind of have to pick your poison a little bit with how you defend them. (Koby) Brea (13 points, 3 three-pointers) was the focus of our attention in terms of the three-point line, but we knew those guys were capable.

"Anytime you hit three-point shots, especially in the NCAA tournament, it just energizes your team. And once they hit those shots their defense got a little bit tougher, and probably our defense dropped down a little bit. They're backbreakers.

"You can't give up dunks, you can't give up layups and you can't give up threes. Teams can make all the 15-foot shots, all the free throws, but those don't really change the momentum. But back-to-back threes, those demoralized our guys a little bit because they pulled away.

"I didn't think we had the same level of grit or toughness for about 4-5 minutes there. But our guys did make another run, and they did fight to the very end. I'm proud of them for that."

Troy's 23 victories were its most since the 2003-2004 season, and Conerway – who finished with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes – was the Trojans' first conference player of the year since Greg Davis was named the Atlantic Sun's best that same year.

Tough defense and battling on the boards is what this group will be remembered for, among other things.

"These guys came together at the right time," said Cross, who also coached Texas-Arlington to the NCAA Tournament in his previous stop as a head coach. "We didn't play our best basketball tonight, but what they did during the last three or four weeks is absolutely amazing. We thought that we could do it. We believed that we could do it.

"Our guys put it together when it counted, and this is probably one of the best teams I've ever been a part of. I'm very, very thankful to be their basketball coach."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Even in a loss, Troy savors NCAA Tournament experience

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