Make that headline make sense.
The Troy Trojans head to Bud Walton Arena on Monday for a standard tip-off against No. 9 Arkansas in nonconference play. There’s nothing unusual about it at all. In fact, Troy has been a fairly common out-of-SEC opponent for Arkansas the last 25 years. Monday will mark the opponents’ seventh meeting since 1996.
And the Trojans don’t appear to be half bad. They were picked 10th in the preseason in the 14-team Sun Belt, but enter Monday at 7-1. Guard Duke Miles averages 14 points a game is shooting 47% from 3-point range. Guard Nelson Phillips is a lot like Anthony Black in that he is scoring 13.6 points a game, grabbing six boards and picking up three-plus steals a night.
Troy beat Florida State, too, in its opener against a Division I opponent on November 14. The Trojans had already played two lower-division teams, including Division II Montevallo and Division III Mississippi College For Women (which is a co-ed school, actually).
Arkansas is back at home for the first time in more than a week. The Razorbacks are coming off a 2-1 week at the Maui Invitational. They beat Louisville in the opener and San Diego State in the third-place game while falling to Creighton in the semifinals. The Hogs are 5-1 on the season and could see the debut of freshman guard Nick Smith Jr., though he’s more likely for the weekend game against San Jose State.
Tip from BWA is at 7 p.m.
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