Why Haley Troup's career goes down as an all-time Mizzou great

As Haley Troup sat down in the Mizzou Arena media room, her face still red from the emotion of facing her final home game as a Missouri Tiger, she struggled to keep the tears from coming.

She shared a tender moment with her dad after a 61-52 loss to Florida that was a tangible moment that her six seasons at MU are coming to an end. But, it wasn't before the Tigers saluted her all-time great career that flourished on the Norm Stewart Court.

Troup was honored Sunday as the program's lone departing senior. She'll leave with a program record that might be unbreakable in this era of college athletics.

Troup played her 145th career game at MU Sunday, which is a Missouri program record. That stretches back to her redshirt-freshman season five years ago.

"This is such a special community and a special team and program, and I'm just so thankful to have the opportunity to represent this university for the past six years," Troup said. "If I say too much now I might start crying."

The Robin Pingeton era has overseen four NCAA Tournaments, perhaps the best player in MU history in Sophie Cunningham and the switch from the Big 12 to the SEC. Troup is the latest to leave an indelible mark on the program, which is one that will remain in the record books for quite some time.

Across those 145 games and counting, Troup has been exactly when MU has needed her to be. Whether it's a scoring player, a defensive stalwart or a key rebounder, Troup has been the player Pingeton has been able to call upon at any moment.

"She's never wavered," Pingeton said. "She's always been a person of high character, high integrity, that really poured into her teammates. More than she realizes, that locker room has so much respect and admiration for her."

Troup was seemingly meant to be a Tiger. The Gadsen, Alabama, native came to Missouri from South Carolina before the 2017-18 season and played her first full season in 2018-2019.

Troup made the cross-SEC move after Nikki McCray-Penson, a then-assistant coach for the Gamecocks, was named the head coach at Old Dominion. Troup, in an honest interview with the Charleston Post and Courier in 2017, said it wasn't fair to stay in Columbia when her heart wasn't in it.

“South Carolina is a great program with a great staff, but my heart just wasn’t in it anymore," Troup told the Post and Courier in 2017. "I didn’t think it was fair to them to stay when I wasn’t feeling very good about it."

Troup transferred to Columbia, Mo., shortly after. Her original recruitment came down to MU and USC. Since that move in 2017, she has been a consistent member of the Tigers' rotation ever since and became a full-time starter in the 2020-2021 season.

Troup played on MU's tournament team in 2019. She started every game she's played since the beginning of the 20-21 season. Pingeton noted how hard it was for Troup to leave her family, but she spent each of her 145 games giving MU everything she could.

In that time, she's also become an irreplaceable teammate.

"That's my best friend right there," Hayley Frank said. "Through my four years here, she's just always been someone I can count on, lean on. I just know she's going to give everything she has every day."

Troup has done nearly everything across her five years. While she isn't scoring as much as she did in the 2021-2022 season, she has recorded more steals and rebounds this season than in her past four years and has her best free throw percentage from the line in her career.

Troup even recorded a career-high with 24 points against Arkansas this year. In her home finale against Florida, Troup scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds in the loss.

In this era of college basketball, six years of loyalty may seem like an eternity. To Pingeton, it meant the world.

"I don't know if I can even articulate how special that is and how much it means to me," Pingeton said. "We always say iron sharpens iron, and she's definitely sharpened me and it's just been a blessing to be able to coach her and be around her for this long."

There might not be another player like Troup in the near future for MU, which is a player Pingeton has previously called the backbone of her roster. Missouri has fielded stars like Cunningham, Aijha Blackwell and Hayley Frank, and players like Troup are the kind that can provide the support those players need to take over a game.

That support has seen MU claim NCAA Tournament wins, upset wins over No. 1 South Carolina and 77 wins over Troup's career.

"She's been a part of some really special wins, big-time wins, and she's been a part of some really tough losses and tough seasons," Pingeton said.

Troup rarely is a player that commands the spotlight, but she's proved she can thrive when the light finds her.

Troup's final season isn't over. She can still help lift the Tigers in the SEC Tournament, where MU can put on a show that leads to higher seeding in what will most likely be the WNIT.

Troup will play her 146th and 147th career games in the SEC Tournament and in a postseason tournament.

That will, at the very least, move into a tie for 92nd all-time in the NCAA women's basketball record books in career games played. Troup is currently tied for 132nd all-time, matching the likes of former Baylor star Odyssey Sims and former Notre Dame star Natalie Achonwa who would go on to play in the WNBA.

Now, Troup has a few more opportunities to prolong her season. Her teammates will do everything they can to make sure that happens.

"She's definitely just a special one that I've been truly blessed to play with," Frank said. "I'm excited for March, and we're gonna try and get something done for her."

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Why Haley Troup's career is an all-time Mizzou great