Scott Cross: Troy will rely on toughness and offensive rebounding

Troy head coach Scott Cross came off as a likable guy when he gave KSR+ a one-on-one interview earlier this week. His comments about Waffle House gained national attention, and he reminisced on his past two run-ins with Kentucky and Big Blue Nation while coaching at another school. “Big Blue Nation was out in full force,” he recalled from his first trip to Rupp Arena.

On Thursday of the NCAA Tournament, Cross and his Troy Trojans held their open practice before Kentucky’s session in Fiserv Forum. Before the practice, Cross held a press conference to preview Troy’s first NCAA Tournament since he’s been the head coach and another matchup with the Wildcats.

“Oh, they’re one of the best offensive teams in the country, the way they pass the ball, shoot the
ball,” Cross said in his opening comments about Kentucky. “Very difficult to defend. We’re definitely going to go out there and try and be as aggressive as we can and take some things away.

“But watching it on tape, it’s not going to be easy. This is what you live for and what you dream about, and so the opportunity to go out there and play them, I know our guys are excited and ready for the challenge.”

14-seed confidence

Cross was asked if Kentucky’s recent early exits in the tournament give his team any more confidence before their 3 vs. 14 matchup on Friday. He dismissed the Wildcats’ past NCAA disappointments, saying Troy can’t base anything off yesterday or last year. However, he showed his team the highlights from all of the 14-seed upsets of the last decade, which included last year’s Kentucky-Oakland game.

“Doesn’t happen a lot,” he said. “I believe it’s like 13 percent or something along those lines. But just knowing that it can be done, I think it gives you a chance and gives the guys a little bit of confidence. They’re going to have a definite size advantage. That’s part of it. I do believe our guys are confident and believe in themselves and they believe in each other.”

Combating Kentucky’s size

As expected, Kentucky has a clear size advantage over the Sun Belt champs. To combat the SEC strength of the Wildcats, Cross said his team will rely on toughness and rebounding fundamentals, lessons they learned in Cross’s boot camp before the season began.

“We’re exceptionally good at offensive rebounding. I believe we’re fifth or sixth in the country. You have to be tough. How are we able to do that? With Jackson Fields, who’s 6’8″ maybe, Thomas Dowd, 6’7”, somewhere in there. The only way to do that is by being tough. You’re not going to be a great offensive rebounding team unless you’re being physical, gritty, and tough.

“Our guys, we’ve preached it, we’ve done it. We do a defensive boot camp, weeklong, where we’re getting up at 5:00 in the morning, doing 2-on-2 drills without a basketball for an hour and a half straight. It’s one of the toughest things they do. Once they accomplish that, they know anything they face in the season will be a lot easier than our defensive boot camp.”

He added, “Our guys, their minds, I feel like, are trained. They’re mentally tough. I don’t think they’re going to get rattled no matter what the circumstances are.”