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TROY, Ala. — The Troy Trojans men’s basketball program and the Sun Belt Conference announced the Trojans complete 18-game conference schedule Thursday afternoon.

“We’re finally glad to have our complete 2020-21 Sun Belt Conference schedule,” head coach Scott Cross said. “No matter how you dissect the schedule, we know every single Sun Belt game is going to be a battle. Having our conference dates solidified, will help us because now we have the framework to finish our non-conference schedule. We cannot wait to get it started soon, and our guys have been working really hard. They’re ready to play.”

Switching back to 18 games this season after increasing the conference schedule to 20 last season, the Trojans will host nine different teams at Trojan Arena this winter, highlighted by the home opener (Dec. 31) against ULM and the season finale against in-state rival South Alabama (Feb. 27).

Other new items on the Sun Belt schedule for 2020-21 include the postseason tournament expanding to include all 12 Sun Belt Conference members, a location change to Pensacola, Fla. and the implementation of a rivalry matchup on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 18).

Set to begin on New Year’s Eve against ULM, the Trojans 2020-21 Sun Belt schedule opens with four straight games at Trojan Arena against the Warhawks, Louisiana (Jan. 2), Texas State (Jan. 7) and UT Arlington (Jan. 9).

Troy hits the road for the first time in 2021 the following weekend at Coastal Carolina (Jan. 14) and Appalachian State (Jan. 16), before closing the three-game road swing at South Alabama on MLK Day (Jan. 18).

The Trojans return home the following weekend when Georgia Southern (Jan. 21) and Georgia State (Jan. 23) visit Trojan Arena.

Troy closes out the month of January on the road at Texas State (Jan. 28) and UT Arlington (Jan. 30). Troy’s matchup in Arlington will be head coach Scott Cross’ first trip back to UTA as the head coach of the Trojans.

The final month of the regular season begins on the road for Troy, as the Trojans head to Little Rock (Feb. 4) and Arkansas State (Feb. 6) to close the longest road trip of the season.

Following the two-week road swing through Texas and Arkansas, the Trojan return home for three of their final five games beginning with a pair of contests against Coastal Carolina (Feb. 11) and App State (Feb. 13).

Troy’s final road trip of the regular season takes the program to Georgia Southern (Feb. 18) and to Georgia State (Feb. 20), before they return home for the season finale against the Jaguars on Feb. 27 at Trojan Arena.

Following the conclusion of the regular season, the 12-team 2021 Sun Belt Conference Championship begins with first round action on Mar. 5. The full SBC Tournament schedule complete with times and arena locations (Pensacola State College/Bay Center Arena) can be found above.

The 2020 Trojans welcomed 10 newcomers to Troy this fall, highlighted by the programs first four-star recruit (Antwan Burnett/Montgomery, Ala.), fellow in-state products Duke Miles (Alabama Class 7A Player of the Year Finalist) and Kam Woods (averaged 38.1 points per game last season, three-time Alabama Player of the Year) as well as JUCO teammates Kieffer Punter (11.9 points per game) and Rory Pantophlet (9.1 points, 9.1 rebounds).

Troy’s complete 2020-21 non-conference schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

“Once the NCAA came out with its most recent legislation everything changed,” Cross said. “The maximum number of games that we can play was decreased by four and we lost 14 potential dates to play, which threw off our non-conference schedule. It’s almost impossible to schedule those non-conference games until you know what your conference schedule looks like, so now we shift our attention to scheduling our non-conference games. This year we’re just going to have to be flexible. The most important thing is we get a chance to play, and we’re fired up about that opportunity.”