NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - TROY VS NEBRASKA

March 18, 2026

Jerrell Bellamy

Thomas Dowd

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Troy Trojans

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have with us No. 1 Thomas Dowd and No. 10 Jerrell Bellamy here with you. We'll open it up to questions.

Q. What would it mean in your guys' words for Troy to get its first-ever NCAA Tournament win? What's it mean to you guys?

THOMAS DOWD: Yeah, that would mean a ton to us. You know, the fans and the support we have in Troy is surreal, to be honest, like the relationships we have with those people. Not only what it would mean to us, but what it would mean to them. We're also both kids from Alabama. We both grew up not too far from Troy, so just even people back in our hometowns, so we know who are watching us and keeping up with us, what it would mean to them.

It would be surreal if we were able to do that for our fans and the people of Troy.

JERRELL BELLAMY: I'm just going to piggyback off of what Thomas said. I would say really just making our families proud, making the city of Troy proud. Getting our first win -- Troy's first win in the NCAA Tournament, I feel like that would be surreal for the coach, coaching staff, the team, you know, everybody has had the dream, the future to just win -- just get a win in the NCAA championship, so it's like, why not?

Q. What speaks out about Nebraska and what are the keys for tomorrow?

THOMAS DOWD: They're obviously the 4 seed for a reason. They're a great team. They started the season 20-0, so, you know, we're definitely not taking them lightly.

They move the ball great on offense. Great shooters, but if you overextend, they're going to kill you on the outside. I think they're a really good team, but at the same time, I think when we play our brand of basketball, when we play it at a high level, we're a really good team, too.

We're definitely respecting them in that sense. Also, on defense, you know, they play -- it's kind of similar to how we play on defense, like our principles, but it's a little different. They still play a swarming, you know, really try to pressure you on defense and just try to make you make mistakes and whatnot.

So we're definitely respecting them and the fact that they are a really good team, like I said. They're the 4 seed for a reason. We're not going to shy away. We're not going to be scared. We're confident in our abilities as well.

JERRELL BELLAMY: I really would say the same thing. They were, I think, number 7th defensively. We just can't take them lightly. They try to speed us up. They try to play their brand of basketball, try to get us to match up off of them and try to get us to do things that we're not used to doing, but if we just stay to our principles, stay connected how we have since we started the season, then I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get anything that comes at us.