It is the Troy Trojans. They went 12-21 last season and just 6-14 in the Sun Belt. But it is basketball season. Game 1. So here is the most in depth look at Troy basketball ever written, probably.
Troy has a brand new head coach, Phil Cunningham. Cunningham was an assistant coach at Western Kentucky last season, but prior to that, he spent the years of 2000-2012 as an assistant at Mississippi State. In those 12 seasons Ole Miss was just 8-18 against Mississippi State, with Andy Kennedy going 4-8.
Cunningham will likely have more knowledge on Kennedy and Ole Miss basketball than other nonconference opponents.
Troy lost two of their top four scorers from last season, but the two that return are both guards that could potentially hurt Ole Miss off the dribble, especially when creating for teammates.
Senior guard Hunter Williams was the ball handler on 236 pick-and-rolls last seasons. He wasn’t very good at scoring off of ball screens as he posted a points per possession of .565 on 108 possessions. He shot just 27.7 percent and committed a turnover on 17.6 percent of possessions. These possessions resulted in free throws just 4.6 percent of the time for Williams.
But when he passed out of the pick-and-roll, Troy’s offense was much better. They averaged exactly 1 point per possession on 128 possessions that were a Williams’ pass off of the screen. His teammates shot 43 percent, turned it over just 7.8 percent of the time and went to the free throw line 10.9 percent of the time.
When passing to the roll man, their numbers rose even more, with a field goal percentage of 55.6, a turnover rate of 6.3 percent and free throws 22.9 percent of the time.
Ole Miss was good at defending the pick and roll last season. They saw it 288 times and held opponents to .722 points per possession on 36.8 percent shooting. They also forced a turnover 20.5 percent of the time and gave up free throws on 10.8 percent of possessions.
The Trojans other top returning scorer is senior guard Antoine Meyers. Meyers got a look at 111 isolation plays last season. Including passes out of the isolation, Meyers registered a points per possession of .982, and like Williams on the pick-and-roll, the Troy offense was better with the pass.
When Meyers kept the ball, he scored .837 points per possession on 42.3 percent shooting. He turned it over a lot at 18.6 percent, but got to the free throw line an absurd 24.4 percent of the time. (He shot 61 percent on free throws last season.)
Passing out of the isolation made Troy’s points per possession jump to 1.48 on 56 percent shooting and a ridiculous 74 percent effective field goal percentage.
Ole Miss was incredible against isolations last season, posting the fifth best efficiency in the country. Facing 237 isolations, Ole Miss allowed a points per possession of .574 and 28.3 percent shooting from the field.
Jarvis Summers was excellent against the 37 isolations he faced. He held opponents to 5 of 22 shooting (22.7 percent) and forced a turnover 21.7 percent of the time.
A major cause of Ole Miss’ success on isolations and pick-and-rolls was the interior presence of Reggie Buckner. The all-time leading shot blocker in Rebel basketball history was at his best when coming from the weak side to swat a guard’s shot. With Buckner and Murphy Holloway gone, Ole Miss may have a tougher time cleaning up guard penetration.
Also, against USC-Aiken in the exhibition, Ole Miss only struggled in one area on defense: defending off the dribble.
Aiken got into the lane with ease with their guards and finished with 32 points in the paint despite starting 4 guards.
In Troy’s exhibition game, a 105-68 win over Victory University, they saw another senior Trojan standout.
Forward Tevin Calhoun had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the game. Seven of those rebounds were offensive, but last year, Calhoun grabbed just 5.05 percent of available offensive rebounds and 7.63 percent of total rebounds. He also shot just 31 percent last season.
Now, we all know more than anybody ever needed to know about Troy hoops, but basketball season is upon us, with or without Marshall Henderson.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss men’s basketball, follow @Tyler_RSR and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
— Tyler Bischoff
