NEW ORLEANS – After winning back-to-back Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championships, Troy learned it will be the No. 13 seed in the South Region of the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, as announced during the NCAA’s selection show Sunday evening.
 
The Trojans will take on the South Region’s No. 4 seed, Nebraska (26-6), on Thursday, March 19 at 11:40 a.m. (CT) at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.
 
Troy will compete in its fourth NCAA Tournament in program history after becoming the Sun Belt’s first back-to-back champion since Georgia State in 2018 and 2019 and just the sixth school in the conference’s 50-year history to accomplish the feat.
 
Troy is one of just eight teams this season to repeat as its conference’s NCAA Tournament automatic qualifier along with Akron, Duke, Gonzaga, High Point, McNeese State, St. John’s and VCU.
 
Led by seventh-year head coach and 2026 Sun Belt Coach of the Year Scott Cross, the Trojans own a 22-11 overall record this season and the Sun Belt’s outright regular-season champion with a 12-6 mark in conference play. Receiving a bye to the Sun Belt tournament’s semifinals, Troy outlasted No. 8 seed Southern Miss, 78-70, in its first game before defeating No. 10 seed Georgia Southern, 77-61, in the title game to secure the league’s automatic bid to March Madness.
 
The Trojans are the Sun Belt’s only team with at least 20 wins in each of the last five seasons, as they have also won at least 10 conference games during each of those campaigns. Troy returns 11 total players and eight letterwinners, but just one starter, from last season’s championship squad.
 
Four players averaged double-digit points per game this season, led by 2026 All-Sun Belt First Team selection and the Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player Thomas Dowd at 14.8 per contest. A junior forward, Dowd is the Sun Belt’s only player to average double-digit points and rebounds this season, as his 17 double-doubles rank ninth nationally, while his 10.1 rebounds per game stand 15th among all NCAA Division I players.