Troy men’s basketball falls to UMass for season opener
The Troy Trojans dropped their home opener to the UMass Minutemen, 71-60, in Trojan Arena Monday night. This is not the outcome Troy fans wanted to start the era of Adam Howard as head coach, but the Trojans still had bright spots.
However, Howard made it clearwhat standard he wants to set at Troy.
“Losing on our home floor is never acceptable,” Howard said. “We have to get back to work and clean some things up and keep fighting.”
The Trojans came out energized, with a crowd of almost 4,000 behind them, jumping out to their largest lead of the night at 18-8. Jacoi Hutchinson and Caden Diggs helped spark this, each scoring a pair of baskets. Hutchinson also led the Trojans with five assists.
“What a great atmosphere we had for our home opener,” Howard said. “I just ask those students to come back and trust and believe that we’ll have a better performance moving forward.”
UMass responded with game-clinching kill shots, with a 17-1 run to end the first half and a 15-0 run to start the second. Cheick Sylla and Noa Zemlijć came off the bench to shift the momentum, each with three field goals, for 15 points in the first half.
The Trojans could not match the Minutemen's stature, as they started 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-10 Junjie Wang and Abdullah Ahmed, while Troy matched with two 6-foot-6 forwards. Wang led UMass with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Ahmed locked down the paint, swatting seven shots.
Troy's recent fifth-year transfer, Donovan Oday, led the team in scoring with 21 points, but even more impressively, the 6-foot-2 guard flew all over the court, snatching a career-high 12 rebounds and six steals.
“Donovan is an electric scorer and hard-playing kid with an unbelievable motor,” Howard said.
Both teams made seven threes, with No. 3 for each team, Oday (Troy) and Jordan Clayton (UMass), hitting three. Clayton was joined in the starting backcourt by Danny Carbuccia as the two stuffed the stat sheet, combining for 12 rebounds and assists.
UMass scored 18 points off fast breaks compared to the Trojans’ four, despite Troy winning the turnover battle 13-9.
“Coach Martin’s teams want to beat you down the floor and beat you on the glass… and a lot of their fast break points came after made baskets,” Howard said. “So, we did not get back and get our defense set, then fouled to put them on the free-throw line.”
Troy found a group to battle back in the last few minutes, with 6-foot-2 Cauã Pacheco joining Oday and Hutchinson as the third small guard. Pacheco is a first-year guard whose professional experience in Brazil led to him totaling eight points, three assists and two steals in his first collegiate game.
“The way they continued to fight and scrap and crawl, I’m proud of the group that competed to get back into the game,” Howard said.
Looking forward, the Trojans face ACC powerhouse Florida State as head coach Luke Loucks looks to build on his first winning season in 2025-26.
“(FSU) is an NCAA Tournament team; they’re really, really talented,” Howard said. “We have to take it one day at a time, address this loss first, then move on from there.”
Troy travels to Tallahassee, Florida, to take on Florida State on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m.
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