As you will recall, Kentucky’s 2022 NCAA Tournament ended at the hands of No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s. The Wildcats’ 2024 March Madness was done in by No. 14 seed Oakland.
So one understands why the Big Blue Nation could have trepidation about the Wildcats’ 2025 NCAA tourney opener vs. No. 14 seed Troy.
Just how worried should Wildcats backers be?
They’re a good team. They are really good,” James Madison coach Preston Spradlin says of Troy. “They play a lot of different, changing defenses that just keep the opponent on your toes and (don’t) really allow you to get into a rhythm.”
Adds Eastern Kentucky head man A.W. Hamilton: “Anytime you look at a team like Troy, they’ve got some older guys. They stuck around, didn’t go into the transfer portal. I’m sure their goal was stay together, get to the NCAA Tournament. They are a hungry group — and that’s always a formula for a really scary team in March.”
Spradlin, the former Morehead State head man, and Hamilton know Troy well.
James Madison and Troy are Sun Belt Conference rivals and split two games this year. Spradlin’s Dukes won the regular season matchup 64-61 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Feb. 5. However, coach Scott Cross’s Trojans turned the tables in the Sun Belt tourney with a 79-60 semifinals victory.
Hamilton and EKU have faced Troy three times over the past two seasons. Last year, the Colonels and Trojans split two games. This year, Eastern lost at Troy 84-74 on Dec. 1.
Spradlin says the big difference in Troy from its first game with JMU to its second was the 3-point shooting of starting center Jackson Fields.
Fields produced one of the most dramatic midseason alterations of any player in NCAA Division men’s basketball.
The 6-foot-8, 210-pound junior missed his first 12 3-pointers of the season. He started the season 3-for-28 from behind the arc.
However, beginning with a 5-for-7 performance on 3-pointers in Troy’s 71-70 win at Arkansas State on Feb. 15, Fields closed out the year on a 16-for-29 stretch of 3-point shooting. He hit 5 of 7 treys and scored 21 points in the SBC Tournament win over James Madison.
“After we played them the first time, they almost became a different team with their 5 man, Fields, stepping out and shooting an incredible percentage,” Spradlin says. “… He really started stepping out and shooting, kind of changed the whole complexion of their team.”
Troy guard Tayton Conerway, a 6-3, 186-pound senior, is the reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. Hamilton says the Troy guard — who is third in NCAA Division I men’s hoops with 97 steals (2.6 per game) — is a defensive menace.
