On March 8th, Troy men's basketball heads to Pensacola to defend its Sunbelt title at the 2026 championships. As the top seed with a 21-10 record, the Trojans earned a bye straight to the semifinals after grabbing the outright regular season, Crown. They face No. 8 Southern Miss on Sunday at 5 p.m., with the game streaming on ESPN+, and airing on the Troy Sports Media Network.
Earlier this week, Troy sealed the title on February 27th with an 80-65 win over ULM, pulling ahead of tied teams like App, State, Marshall, and South Alabama. It's their second straight regular season championship, and marks the fifth year in a row they've hit 20-plus wins, the only Sunbelt team to do. That, plus 10 or more conference victories each time. Coach Scott Cross picked up Sunbelt, coach of the year honors for the second time in his career, guiding Troy to 12-6 lead play.
Standouts Thomas Dowd and Victor Valdez earned all Sunbelt nods, Dowd leading with 14.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game for. The conference is only double-double average, while Valdez tops scoring at 15 points and 4.5 assists. Meanwhile, Southern Miss rolls in hot after three straight wins in Pensacola, including a takedown of App State. The team split their regular matchups, with each winning at home, and the Golden Eagles lead the league in free-throw attempts at 24 points.
Six per game, watch for their score, Tylek Weeks at 19.6 points and Jahe Banay with 10.3 points and 8 rebounds. The semifinal winner advances to Monday 6 p.m. title game for an automatic NCAA tournament spot, and Troy eyes its first repeat tournament crown since Georgia State back in 2018 and 19.