PENSACOLA, Fla. – Troy University is the only Sun Belt opponent that the Old Dominion women's basketball team did not play this season, which is just one of many reasons why the quarterfinal game Friday between the two teams in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament will be intriguing.
Each Sun Belt team plays its six regional rivals twice and six of the seven teams from the other division once, and Troy, which has 18,000 students on four campuses in Alabama, was the west team schedule makers left off ODU's schedule.
ODU head coach DeLisha Milton-Jones had already watched a ton of tape on Troy even before the Monarchs dispatched Georgia State, 66-56, in Wednesday's second round.
"They have a really high caliber team," she said. "They're going to be overly aggressive on the offensive end and they're going to be even more aggressive at crashing the glass looking for second-chance opportunities.
"They pride themselves on being a team that can outrebound you by 20."
The Trojans lead the country with an average of 51.4 rebounds per game, and although they don't shoot for a particularly high percentage, they lead the conference and are fifth nationally in scoring at 83.3 points per game.
ODU, meanwhile, averages 38.5 rebounds and 65.6 points per game.
"They have a high-caliber defense, and they like to press," Milton-Jones said. "They love to disrupt your flow. So, we're going to have to be a savvy team that's poised and allow ourselves to move the ball so we can find the open player."
Troy had three players named to the All-Sun Belt teams earlier this week: 5-foot-3 guard Makayla Hollman (14.6 points, 2.5 assists) was on the second team and 6-2 forward Ja'Mia Hollings (12.9 points, 8.5 rebounds) and 6-1 forward Tai'Sheka Porchia (12.5 points, 7.3 rebounds) were on the third team.
Senior Amari Young was the lone ODU player honored. She was a second-team pick.
Coached by Chanda Rigby, Troy has been the Sun Belt's best women's basketball program over the last decade. Rigby has won three Sun Belt tournaments, two regular-season titles and gone to postseason play six times.
Rigby, who earned a doctorate in higher education while coaching, has a career 437-228 record, with a 209-130 mark at the Division I level, all at Troy.
For most of this season the Trojans were dominant in the Sun Belt, but then lost four of their last six games and fell into a three-way tie for fourth with ODU and Georgia Southern. The Trojans had the tiebreaker and were thus seeded fourth and got a double bye into the quarterfinals.
ODU was seeded fifth and forced to beat Georgia State to get to the quarterfinals.
Asked about what happened to Troy in the last three weeks, Milton-Jones said "I'm too concerned with my locker room to be concerned with what's going on with other programs.
"But you know, sometimes teams go through moments like this and you can't quite pinpoint why. I'm hoping it's something that continues for them."
Milton-Jones said there's one major key to beating Troy "We have to box out," she said. "We've been preaching to our players, as soon as the ball goes up, focus on boxing out."
Jatyjia Jones transferred to ODU because of the opportunity to play for a winner.
Two Grad Students Want a Championship Trophy
Jatyjia Jones and Makayla Dickens both transferred to ODU from high-profile programs and they did so for the same reason – they both want a championship ring.
Jones played two seasons at Memphis after two seasons of junior college basketball and the Tigers didn't go to postseason play.
Dickens started parts of four seasons at Boston College, and although she played in the Women's NIT, BC never got to the NCAA Tournament.
Not coincidentally, Jones led ODU with 16 points against Georgia State and Dickens scored 11 points, all in a two-minute stretch late in the third and early in the fourth quarters.
Dickens played at Princess Anne High in Virginia Beach and is well aware of ODU's storied women's basketball history and the fact that the Monarchs haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2008.
To take ODU back to the NCAA Tournament "For me, it would mean everything," Dickens said.
"I mean, for me, it would take five years (four at BC) to win a title. But the family at ODU is unimaginable and to bring back something like that to the community and Norfolk and all of our fans who support us, that would be special."
Before transferring Dickens said she studied ODU's roster and realized the team had championship potential.
Makayla Dickens wants to help ODU go back to the NCAA Tournament
"ODU was close to home for me, close to my family," she said. "But I knew they had a pretty solid team last year. And also having a coach like Coach D, you're not going to get that kind of coach at any typical college, not even at the Power 5 level."
Jones said she came to ODU to play for a winning program.
"I came to ODU because of opportunity," she said. "Think about it. They ended pretty well in Conference USA. I felt like we had a team that could win in the Sun Belt.
"And there was coaching. What other coach as done it all? The opportunity to take what she knows, her knowledge, and apply it to the game, was so attractive to me."
Milton-Jones is Piling up Victories
Milton-Jones has compiled a 58-32 record in her three seasons at ODU, and take away a 13-11 record in her first season, in which the Monarch roster was depleted by the pandemic, she is 45-21
If the Monarchs win the Sun Belt Tournament, she will match the 24 victories ODU had last season. A 25th win would be the most at ODU since the Monarchs won 31 games in 2007-08.
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: Key for ODU Women in Sun Belt Tournament Game Today Against Troy is to Box Out
