Wednesday, March 18th, 8:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Trojan Arena (4,000) -- Troy, Alabama. Television: None. Home Record: Charleston 12-4, Troy 11-2. Away Record: Charleston 11-4, Troy 6-8. Neutral Record: Charleston 3-0, Troy 2-2. Conference Record: Charleston 15-5, Troy 14-4. Series Record: College of Charleston leads, 1-0.

GAME NOTES: With one of the top win totals in college basketball in 2008-09, the College of Charleston heads to Alabama tonight to battle the Troy Trojans in the 2nd Annual College Basketball Invitational. The Cougars, who totaled 26 wins this season, were passed over for both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT, which leaves the squad situated in one of the newer 16-team postseason tournaments. Battling Davidson all season long for the top spot in the Southern Conference, the College of Charleston closed out the regular season with five straight wins and seven in the last eight games. From there the team won three in a row in the league tournament in Chattanooga before bowing to the host Mocs in the title game on March 9th by a score of 80-69. As for the Trojans, they too were in contention for significant attention in the Sun Belt Conference, but even with 12 wins in the final 13 regular season games, the lone loss being a one-point setback at Florida International (87-86), all was for naught. After closing out the campaign with a 63-58 win against South Alabama on February 28th Troy was again faced with going up against USA in the SBC Tournament on March 8th and this time bowed in a 78-75 decision. The Cougars posted a 92-42 blowout of Troy in the only other meeting between the programs back in 1998 at Kresse Arena. The survivor of this contest will be back in action in the quarterfinal round on Monday versus the winner of the St. John's/Richmond meeting.

Making their eighth appearance in the postseason and first since the 2003 NIT, the Cougars take their cue from Andrew Goudelock who needs just five points to reach 1,000 in his career. Should he reach that easily attainable plateau, Goudelock would become just the third player in program history and the first since the school moved to Division I in 1991-92, to do so in just two years. Goudelock was tops on the team this season with his 16.5 ppg, shooting not only 45.3 percent from the field, but also an impressive 43.1 percent behind the three-point line and 88.4 percent at the charity stripe as well. Tony White came up with 11.7 ppg and was first on the unit with 92 assists and he teams with Goudelock to create one of the best three-point shooting tandems in the Southern Conference. As a team, better than one out of every three field goal attempts by the Cougars came flying in from out on the perimeter as the squad generated a hefty 76.9 ppg.

The Trojans lost significant scoring punch from last year's group, yet still managed to come up with an impressive number of victories. However, with a total of 10 transfers from various colleges on the roster, it's not as though Troy was starting from scratch. Head coach Don Maestri was a master at putting together the right combinations throughout 2008-09, earning him Coach of the Year honors for the seventh time in his career. Maestri out one of his acquisitions to good use as former Mississippi State member Richard Delk was named the SBC Newcomer of the Year after starting every game for the program. Delk, an All-SBC Second Team selection, was second on the team with his 13.8 ppg, trailing only Brandon Hazzard who was responsible for 16.1 ppg on the strength of his 44.6 percent shooting behind the three-point line. The Trojans put up a whopping 77.7 ppg this season, but at the same time the team also surrendered 76.7 ppg and watched as opponents registered close to 17 assists per game.

Both of these teams deserved to be in the postseason in one form or another, but it is up to them to put on a good show tonight to further prove that. Expect Goudelock and White to give it their all on the road and move on to the next round.

Predicted Outcome

College of Charleston 78, Troy 71