Is Troy using Jack Gohlke as March Madness motivation before Kentucky?

There was an arrogance from Jack Gohlke in the Oakland locker room ahead of Kentucky’s first-round matchup in the 2024 NCAA Tournament this time last season. He called his shot against the Wildcats, saying the world would know his name after their head-to-head battle — and to his credit, he nailed it. The sharpshooter dropped a career-high 32 points on 10-20 from three to send UK home, effectively ending the John Calipari era in Lexington.

Out goes Coach Cal, in comes Mark Pope, the Wildcats in a similar spot this go-round as a No. 3 seed taking on a mid-major No. 14 seed.

Is Troy using Gohlke’s performance as motivation going into the matchup in Milwaukee, hoping to give Kentucky its third first-round loss in four years? Something like that — while also recognizing they have to pave their own path rather than recreate history.

“I wouldn’t say use it as confidence — it’s a different Kentucky team, it’s a different coach, all that,” Trojan forward Thomas Dowd told KSR. “But our coaches were just showing us some upsets that have happened over the years, just to give us the confidence that we know it can happen. I don’t think you want to go into a game with the idea that, ‘Oh, I’m going to go do this,’ because then you start maybe trying a little bit too hard to do it.

“I’m just going to go with the approach personally to just trust in the Lord. Whatever happens will happen. Obviously, I’m going to be a little nervous, but once the ball gets in my hands and the game starts, the nerves calm down.”

The circumstances are different with different coaches and rosters, but the backs-against-the-wall approach remains the same for every underdog in Troy’s shoes.

“Definitely (it’s motivation),” second-leading scorer Myles Rigsby said. “I feel like we use those games as kind of blueprints — what they did, just take little pieces of those and add them to our (game plan) with what we already do. I feel like we’re going to have a good chance against Kentucky.”

Just as Gohlke couldn’t do it the way Doug Edert did it with Saint Peter’s a few years back, Troy has its own game plan with a similar goal to win the game. It’s not about becoming a March Madness legend individually, but rather make history as a team.

“It’s always motivation, but we know we still gotta go out there and play, honestly,” Marcus Rigsby Jr. told KSR. “We gotta go out there and play. I don’t think anything is gonna be given to us or easy. It’s great that he had the opportunity to be a March Madness legend, but I’m just focused on getting this win for my team, honestly.”

Scott Cross showed the team film of old upsets — including the Oakland game, probably — to paint the picture of what that would look like for his group on Friday. It was to show the Trojans that if other teams could do it in the past, so could they.

And if they don’t, they’re going to die trying.

“He just went over a couple of the games, really the 13, 14, 15 and 16 seeds — there haven’t been that many over the past 10 years,” Dowd said. “He showed us those and what those teams did, they were the aggressors. They came out on top of the other teams and they weren’t afraid to take shots, they weren’t afraid to take it to the rim.

“You’re going out there with the utmost confidence that if we do what we do, there’s a chance it can be enough. If it’s not, then we showed the world who we are and gave it our all.”