FINAL: Troy 79, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 68

December 15, 2007

Drew Champlin

Brandon Hazzard scored a career-high 19 points for Troy off the bench. O’Darien Bassett scored 18 and Justin Jonus 16. Troy plays again Monday night at home against Jacksonville University (from Florida, not Jacksonville State) at 7 p.m.

On Hazzard’s performance:

“It builds your trust in your bench,“ head coach Don Maestri said. “It lets guys know that they can come in and contribute and give us a chance to win.“

Troy (5-4) has won four straight.

Troy vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Drew Champlin

or, TAMUCC for short.

Here’s how the Caller Times of Corpus Christi viewed this matchup.

It’s 15 minutes until tipoff, and the crowd is very light. Campus is dead, so I’ve been told (and seen) since Troy’s graduation was last night. A noon tipoff is odd, but TAMUCC must be flying home tonight. That saves another day of hotels since they probably don’t have their own charter flight, and it’s usually cheaper to fly out of airports on Saturday than Sunday.

The student section is usually full. Right now I see two guys. Wonder if it will be better for a Sat. Dec. 29 conference home game against Western Kentucky. No doubt the Trojans will need a big crowd then, but that would get more townfolk out.

On sheer looks alone, TAMUCC looks about 20 points better than Troy. There’s some big dudes out there, but Troy beat them by 21 two weeks ago at TAMUCC.

I’ll post whatever game observations I can on this post. Won’t be much except for halftime because it’s harder to do that in basketball.

11:15 left in first half - Trojans look pretty sloppy. TAMUCC doesn’t look much better, but they have the game going at their pace, even with all those freshmen they’re playing. 17-12 TAMUCC.

but man, that Jerry Miller sounds good on the radio. I should know, as he’s directly to my left.

7:10 left in first half: Rebounding edge TAMUCC 22-13. Surprisingly, it’s now tied 19-19 with TAMUCC’s Filip Toncinic at the FT line. TAMUCC star 7-footer Chris Daniels did go to the bench with his 2nd foul with 10 minutes to go.

4:37 left in 1st half: Major turn of events. O-D dunks on TAMUCC’s Croatian 7-footer, then Jonus and Brandon Hazzard hit open threes. Troy 28-24. And now after the TO Troy forces a five-second count on the inbounds. Hazzard hits another 3. 31-24

3:37 left in 1st half: I wondered why they took out Bassett. Brandon Hazzard is why. He just hit his third straight three, and has the last 9 Troy points in a 15-2 run in the last 2:37. Troy 34-26

HALFTIME: Troy 42-33. Trojans have forced 11 TOs while only committing 3. This team is all effort, all the time. If this junk works in the Sun Belt, Maestri will get coach of the year.

18:44 left in game: TAMUCC calls TO. Troy’s out firing in 2H. Jonus inbounds to start the half then breaks free on a beautifully-designed play. OD gets two FTs then a dunk after a steal from Vogler. 48-33 Troy, Trojans on 29-9 run

15:52 left. Spoke too soon. Officials made (what I thought wasn’t a very good) call on Bassett for a charge, wiping out a basket. That was in the middle of a run by TAMUCC but Troy isn’t letting them get totally back into it yet. Troy 53-45

11:36 left. Media TO. Jervis took a nice bounce pass underneath from Vogler to give Troy a 60-50 lead. Hazzard is scoring again, with a nice drive to the hole (hadn’t seen that from him until now) and another 3, plus a 3 that rimmed out. He and Jonus lead all scorers with 14 points. TAMUCC’s Chris Daniels, the 7-footer, hasn’t been much of a factor though he hit a 3.

7:29 left. Troy 67-57, was up 65-50 after five more points from Brandon Hazzard. In football, it’s termed bend-but-don’t break. Troy isn’t breaking.

3:53 left. Troy coaches didn’t like whatever that was Mike Vogler just threw up there. 70-61 Troy. They could have put TAMUCC away, but haven’t done so. We’ll see how it ends.

Hoops look: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Troy

Drew Champlin

What: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-5) at Troy (4-4)
When: 12 p.m. CST Dec. 15
Where: Trojan Arena (4,000)
Last time out: Troy beat Alabama State 85-74 at home. TAMCC fell at Oklahoma State 60-46.

Probable starting lineups
TROY
G-Jerome Odem (6’1, 160, Sr.) - 7,5 pph
G-O’Darien Bassett (6’2, 190, Sr.) - 16.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg
F-Justin Jonus (6’6, 221, Sr.) - 15.8 ppg
F-Trayce Macon (6’8, 191, Soph.) - 8.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg
F-Jarvis Acker (6’6, 210, Sr.) - 6.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg

TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
G-Tim Green (6’3, 190, Jr.) 8.7 ppg
G-Shannon Shorter (6’4, 200, Fr.) 4.7 ppg
G-Kevin Perkins(6’1, 160, Fr.) 11.3 ppg
F-Justin Reynolds(6’9, 230, Fr.) 11.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg
C-Chris Daniels (7’0, 265, Sr.) 14.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg

What to watch for: This is a rematch of a 73-52 win by Troy two weeks ago in Corpus Christi. The Trojans are looking to win four in a row after a slow start. Troy hasn’t lost since Jarvis Acker was cleared academically to play, using full-court pressure defense and good team play to fuel the run. The Islanders have struggled this year after making the NCAA Tournament last year.

Player to watch, Troy: Tom Jervis. The other 7-footer in this matchup will get some looks from scouts next year on pure size alone.

Player to watch, TAMCC: Chris Daniels. He could have gone to the NBA last year, but the 7-footer provides a size and experience advantage that no one on the Trojans can match.

Troy will win if: The Trojans keep playing team ball and force the issue with its defense.

TAMCC will win if: they establish the game down low with Daniels and get him to dominate. Last time, Daniels barely touched the ball in a game where he had an easy height advantage

Drew’s prediction: Troy 77, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 64

Tony Franklin’s camps

December 14, 2007

Drew Champlin

Been covering prep basketball for the last six hours, so I’m not sure how much discussion about Tony Franklin’s camps have been out there.

But he won’t be having them at Troy, per an Auburn practice report.

“We’ll have camps here,“ head coach Tommy Tuberville said.  “In the SEC, you can’t leave campus and work another camp.  He has other people run them for him.  We’ll get film and feedback from them.  I think it will be good carryover for us.”

Troy inside receivers coach Neal Brown is pretty much his right-hand man in the seminars, so there is a chance some camps could be at Troy, but Franklin, the ex-OC, won’t be running them.

Also, per the Auburn rivals.com site, quarterback Chris Todd is visiting AU this weekend.

Pre-recruiting/spring look: SPECIAL TEAMS

Drew Champlin

This is the first look at the 2008 Trojans. It’s never too early to speculate on the next season, especially since Troy’s 2007 season is over. Most of these will not focus on 2008 recruits as no one has signed on the dotted line yet.

Note: Players are listed in class based on what they will be in 2008.

WHAT TROY IS LOSING: All-Sun Belt kicker Greg Whibbs, who moved over to punter after the third game. Whibbs had a steady four-year career that was capped off by all-conference honors. He will likely get some NFL looks because he can kick off well. Whibbs was mostly a rugby punter in Troy’s odd punt protection scheme. Adrian Vera, who could punt a ball a country mile but was slow to get it off and inconsistent, is also gone. Leodis McKelvin, one of the top punt and kick returners in the country, will take his game to the next level.

WHAT TROY IS RETAINING: Long snapper Derick Thomas, a junior, as well as holders Austin Silvoy and Zack Marcum return. Both are receivers, with the sophomore Silvoy holding for much of the year. Marcum, a junior, held when Silvoy was injured. Junior Sam Glusman traveled to almost every game and kicked off once. Kicker Michael Taylor and punter Will Goggans redshirted, and running back DuJuan Harris, a sophomore, also returned kicks with McKelvin.

I don’t look for Troy to sign a kicker, though any recruit brought in could compete for the return jobs.

DREW’S PREDICTION: Look for sophomore Jerrel Jernigan to take over for McKelvin in the return game. The long snapper and holders will stay the same. I anticipate Taylor and Goggans starting off very solid four-year careers in 2008. The ball really booms off Taylor’s foot, but there was no reason to waste a year last year with Whibbs ahead of him. Goggans spent last year getting adjusted to the college game, and should be fine. Glusman is an option on short field goals and even punts, but they sign kickers to scholarships for a reason. Glusman is a walk-on.