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The Bobcats' defensive assignments got confusing.
Texas State found itself down by a point after the first half of Monday’s 71-63 loss to Troy inside Strahan Arena. The Trojans deployed their starting unit to begin the second half, featuring four guards and 6-foot-6 junior forward Nick Stampley.
Bobcats senior center Eric Terry missed a layup to begin the period and Troy (5-10, 2-3 Sun Belt) pushed the ball in transition, finding junior guard Darian Adams open in the right corner for a 3-pointer, his first score of the game. Stampley stole the ball away from Texas State junior guard Shelby Adams on the next possession, leaving the hosts scrambling to find their man on defense.
Stampley pitched it ahead to Darian Adams, who dished it to freshman guard Desmond Williams for another wide-open trey to extend the visitors’ lead to 35-28. Bobcats head coach Danny Kaspar called timeout with 18:43 on the clock.
“I told (the players), I said, ‘This is exactly what we told you can't happen. You gotta get back and not let them get going,’” Kaspar said. “I truly believe this, I don't think we — I use the word 'dogged' it — I don't think we dogged it tonight, guys, I just think (the Trojans) wanted it more than we did. And they were more mentally ready to play.”
Junior forward Isiah Small laid the ball up for the maroon and gold’s first points of the half, but Darian Adams hit another corner 3 on the next trip down.
“It was confusion off the strength of them playing in transition,” senior guard Nijal Pearson said. “I wouldn't say that we didn't know we had on defense, but they're playing with straight guards. So like a four or five man's used to running into the paint first, but their man's running straight to the 3-point line. And (a Texas State) guard sees that (the post's) man's running to the 3-point line, they had to stop ... the four or five man's player and it would leave somebody else open and it just throws rotations off.”
Even when Texas State had its rotations down, Troy could lure one of the hosts’ bigs out to the perimeter and take them off the bounce. If the Bobcats rotated again to stop the driver, the ball-handler would kick it back out to an open man behind the line for another triple. The visitors blasted the hosts from long distance all night, finishing the game making 6-11.
The maroon and gold tried to counter by playing up-tempo. On one play midway through the second half, redshirt junior guard Marlin Davis grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a fastbreak layup to trim the lead to five.
But at times, the team tried to force the issue. A minute before Davis’ layup, the guard tossed a pass too far ahead to sophomore guard Caleb Asberry, which fell out of bounds. Asberry committed another turnover on the next trip down, losing the ball driving to the rim.
“At halftime, we just said we gotta pick up our intensity. They were playing harder than us the first half,” Davis said. “There wasn't no time to waste, it was time to go. That's pretty much it, we just had to pick up our sense of urgency.”
Sophomore guard Mason Harrell made a 3 from the left wing to cut the lead to two with 2:30 to go but Texas State never got closer. Troy ended the game on a 10-4 run to take the 71-63 victory.
Pearson led the Bobcats with 24 points, followed by Terry with 10. The team outrebounded its opponent for the first time since Sun Belt play started, 35-34, but shot just 32.8 percent from the floor.
“I was pleased with our rebounding,” Kaspar said. “You know, it's hard to say you got outhustled when you've got that kind of rebounding. But, you know, I just think that their energy from start to finish was somewhat better than ours. I'm not gonna say significantly better, but somewhat better. And that's the difference in eight points.”
Texas State (8-8, 1-4) returns to action on Thursday when it hosts Coastal Carolina (10-6, 3-2) at 7 p.m.
