Quick Notes

• Trinity International rings in the New Year with a Tuesday night matchup against the St. Ambrose Bees, in which the Trojans can earn their eighth win in a row.
• Streaming video and live stats of Tuesday's game can be found at TIUTrojans.com/LIVE
• The Trojans became the first CCAC team to reach 13 wins this year, after closing out the month of December with a buzzer-beating victory over Holy Cross on Dec. 20. Sophomore guard Jeremy Carlyle would hit the game-winning shot to give Trinity a 78-77 home win.
• If the Trojans earn a win over the Bees on Tuesday, they will record their longest winning streak since Dec. 20-Jan. 28 of the 2014-15 season, when Trinity claimed ten in a row.
• The Trojans rank 2nd in the CCAC, averaging 88.1 points per game. St. Ambrose has the conference's 8th-ranked offense, with 78.2 points per game.
• Defensively, St. Ambrose is 12th in the league, with 83.5 points allowed per game. The Trojans rank 6th on the defensive end, allowing 77.1 points on average.
• Senior forward Zach Kirschbaum leads all divisions of NCAA or NAIA college basketball in rebounding, collecting a total of 199 rebounds through 16 games this season.
• The Las Vegas, Nev. native is also leads all of NAIA-II with an average of 9.2 defensive rebounds per game.
• Kirschbaum has posted 14 double-doubles this season, most in the NAIA, and five more than any other player in the CCAC. He also leads the league in rebounding (12.5 per game) and blocked shots, (2.9 per game).
• Grant Corsi is also scoring double figures season, with 13.8 points per game. In the Trojans' win over Judson on Nov. 22, Corsi recorded his first career double-double, collecting 19 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
• Sophomore Jeremy Carlyle is averaging 11.8 points per game, and is shooting 44.2% from three-point range, ranking 11th in the CCAC.
• Through 16 games, senior guard Luke Mead leads the Trojan bench with 11.0 points per game, the fourth-highest average on the team. Mead also ranks 2nd on the team in assists, averaging 2.6 per game.
• Trinity players earned two CCAC Player of the Week awards during the month of December, in Zach Kirschbaum and Jeremy Carlyle. Kirschbaum was named Player of the Week on Dec. 6, after averaging 20 points and 14.5 rebounds in wins over Roosevelt and Purdue-Northwest. Carlyle was honored after leading the Trojans in scoring during their wins over No. 5 Indiana-East and Calumet St. Joseph.
• The Trojans have some of the best defensive statistics in the country this season. Trinity leads the NAIA in blocks (91), ranks 3rd in blocks per game (5.7), 6th in turnover margin (+4.8 per game), and 7th in total steals (150).
• Trinity is coming off of their first 20-win season in 17 years, and return four of five starters from a year ago.
• Last season, the Trojans reached the NCCAA National Semifinal, in their first NCCAA Tournament appearance since 1999. TIU finished 4th overall in the eight-team tournament after coming in as the No. 6 seed.

Series History
• Tuesday marks the 6th meeting all-time between Trinity and St. Ambrose, as the Trojans look for their first win over the Bees in more than a decade.
• The Bees hold a 9-2 record over the Trojans since 1983-84, and have claimed the last seven meetings.

Last Time Out vs. St. Ambrose
• Six players finished in double figures for Trinity, but a slow start proved too much to overcome, as St. Ambrose grabbed an 82-81 win inside Van Dixhorn Arena on Feb. 10, 2016.
• Grant Corsi led the way with 21 points for the Trojans, while Zach Kirschbaum collected his 13th double-double, posting 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Thomas Amrine and James Glass each tallied 12 points, while Henry French posted 11 and Luke Mead 10.

Scouting the Opponents
• The Bees snapped a four-game skid their last time out, with an 11-point win over Waldorf on Dec. 30. St. Ambrose had won three of their first four conference games, but have dropped their last two CCAC contests, to Indiana-South Bend and Holy Cross. 
• Eric Dust leads the team in rebounding, and ranks 6th in the CCAC and 32nd in the NAIA with 8.4 rebounds per game.
• Dust is also the Bees' leading scorer, with 17.5 points per game. Four players in all average double figures for St. Ambrose.

Trojans in the Polls
• Trinity received 65 votes in the latest NAIA Division II Coaches Poll, released on Dec. 13, coming up just three votes shy of cracking the Top 25.
• Trinity International has appeared in the NAIA Division II Coaches Poll 21 times in program history, but not since the 1997-98 campaign.
• The Trojans' last NAIA ranking came on Jan. 6, 1998, when the TIU came in at No. 20.
• The highest ranking in program history was during the 1995-96 season, when Trinity was at No. 3 in the Jan. 22, 1996 poll.
• The Trojans sit at No. 8 in the latest NCCAA National Rankings, which came out on Dec. 13. Trinity has been ranked No. 8 in three of the first five polls this season, beginning with the opening poll on Nov. 15.
• This season, the Trojans placed 4th in the CCAC preseason ratings, with all three programs rated above Trinity earning spots in the NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll.
• Trinity ranks 2nd in the latest conference ratings, released Dec. 12, behind No. 19 St. Francis.

National Rankings
• Senior forward Zach Kirschbaum ranks third or better in the NAIA-II, in five different categories.
• Kirschbaum leads all divisions of college basketball with 199 total rebounds. He also leads the NAIA with 9.2 defensive boards per game, and is 2nd in rebounds per game (12.6), 3rd in blocks per game (2.9) and total blocks (43).
• Freshman guard Will Davidson is 8th in the NAIA with a 3.67 assist-to-turnover ratio. Davidson has 11 assists while averaging just 5.3 minutes on the floor this season.

Record Books
• On Nov. 11, Trinity posted 126 points in their Trojan Classic victory over Silver Lake (Wisc.). The performance was one point shy of the all-time program record of 127 points scored in a single game. (Feb. 14, 1996 at Rockford [Ill.])
• As a team the Trojans combined for 25 made three-pointers against the Lakers, setting a new CCAC single-game record.
• The 25 threes also goes down as the second-highest number of three-point field goals in a single game in NAIA history.
• With two blocks against St. Xavier on Nov. 16, Zach Kirschbaum moved into fourth place on Trinity International's all-time blocked shots list. Kirschbaum surpassed Cameron Burkett's (2003-05) 62 blocks for the No. 4 spot on the list.
• Senior Sean Smith will take over 9th place all-time in Trinity history when he makes his 111th career appearance on Tuesday, surpassing his former teammates Justin Peeples and Nate Ball (2011-15).

Up Next
• The Trojans hit the road Thursday night, for an important North Division showdown with Cardinal Stritch, beginning at 7:30 p.m.