Troy guard and former Meridian High School standout BJ Miller goes up for a dunk against Georgia State Dec. 31. The dunk later earned Miller a spot on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10.

B.J. Miller’s exclamation point on New Year’s Eve ended up being more than just a momentum changer for the Troy Trojans.

It earned the former Meridian High School basketball standout national recognition.

A dunk by Miller with 5:07 remaining in Sunday’s game against Georgia State not only gave Troy a shift in momentum, but it landed Miller on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 later that night. After receiving an inbound pass from his teammate, Miller drove the ball down the length of the court and slammed it in the basket despite being sandwiched between two defenders as he went up for the dunk.

After having already come back from a 19-point deficit, Miller said the slam helped get the Troy fans and Trojans bench hyped, which gave the team a big momentum boost. Troy would go on to win the game 68-66, and Miller would go on to SportsCenter infamy. 

“Coach (Phil Cunningham) always wants me to push the ball,” Miller said. “I just observed the floor. Once I saw the guy in front of me to the right was backing up, I didn’t think he was going to contest. By the time I got to the free throw line, I just took off.”

For Miller, the decision to keep the ball and drive it the distance was all reaction, he said. When he came down after the shot, Miller knew it was a big play for his team.

“It got the crowd rowdy and got the players and the bench back in the game,” Miller said. “We knew we had a chance to win, and that sparked the bench a lot. I didn’t celebrate, but in my head, I was like, ‘Wow.’”

The funny thing was, that wasn’t even Miller’s biggest play in the game. After trailing by 16 points during the second half, Troy fought back to regain the lead 57-56 when Miller made the dunk. Georgia State didn’t go away, however, forcing Miller to make two free throws with 4.7 seconds remaining and the score tied at 66-66.

“I’m shooting I think 85 percent from the line,” Miller said. “Coach gives me the ball pretty much every time (in those situations). I think I’ve done my job making free throws this year.”

He did that night, sinking both to give his team the 68-66 victory. Later on, Miller slowly began to realize just how much the big dunk was making the rounds on social media.

“From Troy positing it before it got on ESPN, it was already going crazy,” Miller recalled. “It had already had 100 retweets and 1,000 views just from the Troy page.”

Then the play made the SportsCenter Top 10, and the alerts increased significantly.

“I only had 80 messages after the game, but once it hit ESPN for the next two games, I had over 300 texts and SnapChats. It got like 8,000 views on Twitter.”

It’s a lot of attention, but Miller said he doesn’t mind.

“I’m one of those guys who’s modest about everything,” Miller said. “It’s cool. I take the good with the bad and the bad with the good. It’s just something that happened at the right time — it’s not annoying at all.”

Troy entered Thursday’s game at Texas Arlington with a 7-8 overall record and a 1-1 record in the Sun Belt Conference. As Miller and the rest of the Trojans hunt for a Sun Belt title, Miller said he appreciates the support he gets from his Meridian fans and family.

“I always appreciate the support,” Miller said. “I had a really good freshman year, and my performance kind of dropped last year, but people still supported me. I’m finally in the starting lineup. It means a lot that people always hit me up and say, ‘Congrats,’ and, ‘Keep up the good work.’ We have other stars from Meridian like Rodney Hood, so it it means a lot to know you have people behind you when you’re so far from home.”

Miller is the son of Michelle and Brandon Miller.