Troy’s Tayton Conerway named SBC Player of the Year

 After putting together one of the most dynamic seasons in program history, Tayton Conerway was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year and All-Sun Belt First Team, the conference announced on Monday afternoon.

A senior from Burleson, Texas, Conerway is the first Troy player to win Sun Belt Player of the Year and the fifth player in program history to win a conference player of the year. Greg Davis is the most recent winner, having earned the Atlantic Sun honor in 2004. It’s the second year in a row that Conerway has won an individual Sun Belt honor after being named the 2024 Sixth Man of the Year.

It also marks back-to-back seasons that a Trojan has been named to the All-Sun Belt First Team, after Christyon Eugene was named to it last season.

Conerway led the Trojans in scoring this season at 13.7 points while shooting 46.6 percent from the field. He also led Troy in assists (5.0) and was tied for second in rebounds (4.7). On defense, he led Troy with 91 steals, setting a new program record for the most steals in a season. It’s also the fourth-most steals in a season in Sun Belt history, and the second most in the country this year.

He took his game to another level during conference play, averaging 16.17 points on 49.5 percent shooting.

“Tayton is extremely deserving of this honor,” head coach Scott Cross said. “He is an absolute stat sheet stuffer with points, rebounds, assists and steals, while shooting high percentages across the board. He is a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses and I am glad that he is on our side this week as we travel down to Pensacola, because I would have an extremely difficult time trying to figure out how to defend him.”

Conerway recored 23 games of double figure scoring and had six 20-plus point performances. He scored a career-high 32 points against Arkansas State and scored 10 or more points in all but one conference game. He had double-digit scoring in 18 of the final 19 games.

The senior guard was one of two Troy players with two double-doubles this season. Against ULM on Jan. 15, he had 10 points and 12 assists to become the first Trojan to record a double-double with points and assists since Will Weathers (12-12) on Jan. 21, 2012. The 12 assists set a career-high for Conerway. It was the first time a Troy player has had 10 or more assists in a game since Weathers’ 2012 performance.

He was key to the Trojans wining the regular season championship and recording their fourth consecutive 20-win season.