The Troy Trojans will look to bounce back from a tough loss to Louisiana-Lafayette tonight when they take on Louisiana-Monroe tonight in troy.

The last time the two teams played was back on Dec. 31, when Troy escaped with an 83-82 win in Monroe.

Troy led by as many as 15 points in the second half of the game, but had to endure a furious ULM rally.

The close game between the two schools was nothing new to the series, and Troy head coach Don Maestri expects more of the same tonight.

“It’s probably going to be a real tough basketball game,” Maestri said. “The last time we played them, it was a games that was separated by only two points. And last year, we won a game at the buzzer because they missed a shot.”

Right now, they are playing with a lot of confidence, having won three of their last four. They’re playing pretty good right now, so it just ought to be a real good game.”

The Warhawks are on a roll, something Maestri attributed to improved defensive play.

“They have a lot to prove,” Maestri said. “We have to be able to handle their defense because they are playing a lot better defense right now. Also, as is the same old story with us, we just have to shoot the basketball better than we did in the last game.”

Troy is coming into the game after a road loss to ULL this past Saturday.

“For us, we are just starting all over again,” Maestri said. “We thought we had some momentum coming off the win over Western Kentucky, but we went to Lafayette and just didn’t play very well. We shot 6-16 from the free throw line, and that was when nobody was guarding us.”

While Troy has struggled with consistency so far this season, Maestri said seeing a familiar opponent should help the Trojans in their quest for victory tonight.

“We just have to play another good game like we did against WKU, and I think we’ll know what to expect,” Maestri said.