Defend the Perimeter

Troy likes to shoot the 3-ball, so much so that 38.9 percent of all their shots come from behind the arc. Unfortunately for the Trojans, they aren’t very good at making all those shots they take, averaging only 33.1 percent as a team from 3-point land. This plays right in to the Mountaineers’ hands as no team in Division-I basketball allows a fewer percentage of their opponents’ shots to come from behind the arc than the Apps. So, if the Mountaineers lock down the perimeter like they normally do, the Trojans will have to take the ball into the paint where they’ll find themselves up against shot blocking monsters like Jacob Lawson — who just happens to lead the Sun Belt in blocked shots.

Limit Turnovers

This is the big key for the Mountaineers for the rest of the season. There are only 10 teams in all of Division-I college basketball whose turnover percentage is higher than Appalachian State’s. The Apps turn the ball over about 16 times a game, and have the worst turnover margin in the Sun Belt by an incredibly wide margin. One of the biggest culprits behind the turnover problem is freshman Emarius Logan. Logan turns the ball over nearly 31 percent of the time when he has it. Should he and the rest of the Mountaineers start to hold onto the ball a little more, they won’t have a problem handling Troy.

Batman and Robin need to get buckets

Frank Eaves and Ronshad Shabazz have turned into a sort of superhero combo for the Mountaineers recently. Both players contribute the bulk of the teams points, combining to average 32 points a game, or 45.7 percent of the Mountaineer scoring each game. If the dynamic duo can get it going early then Troy will be hard pressed to stop both of them without leaving open a 3-point sniper like Chris Burgess.

Story by: Lee Sanderlin, Associate Sports Editor