Quick Notes

• Trinity International plays the season's final regular season game inside Van Dixhorn Arena this Saturday, when the Trojans host the Cardinal Stritch Wolves. The team's six seniors will be honored before the game as part of the Senior Day festivities.
• Streaming video and live stats of Saturday's game can be found at TIUTrojans.com/LIVE.
• The Trojans sit a half game behind Robert Morris for the top spot of the CCAC standings. The best record in the North Division will earn an automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Championship tournament.
• Trinity are coming off a 104-94 road win over St. Ambrose on Wednesday, and have clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the upcoming CCAC Tournament. 
• The team has 23 wins this season, the third-most victories in program history and the most since 1996-97, when they set a program record with 27.
• Currently the Trojans are 23-4 overall, for the best overall mark in the CCAC. Trinity has also secured back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in two decades (1995-96, 1996-97).
• TIU moved up four spots in the latest NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll released Tuesday, earning the No. 13 spot. The Trojans debuted at No. 20 for their first national ranking in nearly two decades in the poll on Jan. 10.
• The Trojans have some of the best defensive statistics in the country this season. Trinity leads the NAIA in blocks (150), ranks 2nd in blocks per game (5.6), 10th in total steals (228), and 11th in turnover margin (+3.6 per game).
• 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.
• Senior forward Zach Kirschbaum is the Trojans' leading scorer, with 18.5 points per game, and ranks among the NAIA's top four in multiple categories. The Las Vegas, Nev. native is 2nd in NAIA Division II in total rebounds (300), 3rd in total blocks (70), rebounds per game (11.1), and defensive rebounds per game (8.2), and 4th in blocks per game (2.6).
• Kirschbaum has posted 20 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 (11.1 per game) and blocked shots, (2.6 per game).
• With five blocks against Roosevelt on Saturday, Kirschbaum moved into fourth place on Trinity International's all-time blocked shots list. Kirschbaum surpassed Ignas Verbus' (2007-11) 113 blocks for the No. 4 spot on the list, and now has 116 blocks in his Trojan career.
• Kirschbaum was named the CCAC Player of the Week, as well as the NCCAA National Player of the Week on Jan. 17, after his 32-point performance in the road win over Olivet Nazarene on Jan. 14. Kirschbaum has three CCAC and two NCCAA weekly honors during his career as a Trojan.
• 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.
• Grant Corsi is also scoring double figures season, with 13.6 points per game. In the win at St. Ambrose on Wednesday, Corsi posted 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
• Senior guard Luke Mead leads the Trojan bench with 11.2 points per game, the third-highest average on the team. Mead also ranks 2nd on the team in assists, averaging 2.8 per game. Mead finished with 13 points and five assists in Saturday's win against Roosevelt
• Sophomore Jeremy Carlyle is averaging 11.1 points per game, after posting double figures in three straight games for the first time since late December. Carlyle is shooting 42.3% from three-point range and has hit at least two three-pointers in each of the last six games.
• Freshman guard Will Davidson leads the NAIA Division II with a 4.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Davidson has 23 assists to just five turnovers, with ten assists in his last six games. Davidson committed his first turnover in a 20-game span in the win at Judson on Feb. 1.
• Senior guard Sean Smith will make his 122nd career appearance on Saturday, tying Ignas Verbus (2007-11) for 5th on TIU's all-time list. This season, Smith is averaging 5.2 points per game on 47.9% shooting.
• Senior wing Henry French is averaging 1.6 blocks per game, and is 3rd on the CCAC leaderboard. French has 44 total blocks (17th in NAIA), and is averaging 8.5 points per game. French also leads the team with 3.1 assists per game.
• On Jan. 30, French was nominated to participate in the Dunk Contest as part of the 2017 NABC-NAIA Shoot & Slam presented by US Bank. The event takes place during the NAIA Division I National Tournament, in Kansas City on Mar. 18.
• Sophomore guard Greg Carlyle is second on the team in three-point shooting, with a .415 percentage. In the month of January, Carlyle shot .417 (10-24) and has hit at least one three in 9 of his last 11 games.
• Freshman forward T.J. Johnson set a career high with 19 points in the win at Indiana-South Bend on Jan. 28. Johnson has started all 27 games this season, averaging 4.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game.
• Freshman center Rick Wright made his Trojan debut on Jan. 3 in the win over St. Ambrose. In the rematch with the Bees on Wednesday, Wright set a career high with 10 points, his first game in double-figures as a Trojan.
 

About Cardinal Stritch

• Saturday marks the 33rd meeting between Trinity International and Cardinal Stritch since the 2003-04 season. The Wolves lead the all-time series 27-5.
• Trinity snapped a 19-game losing streak to the Wolves last season, with a 75-74 win on Jan. 7, 2016. The Trojans have won all three meetings since ending the drought.
• In a battle between two of the top three teams in the CCAC North Division, Trinity lead wire-to-wire in an 81-68 road victory over Cardinal Stritch on Jan. 5.
• Senior forward Zach Kirschbaum led the Trojans with 25 points in the win, his highest point total in nearly two months. Henry French finished with 16 points on the night, while Luke Mead came off the bench to contribute 14.
• The Wolves currently sit in a tie for 6th in the CCAC standings, in the middle of a group of six teams all within a game of one another, battling for the final five playoff spots in the CCAC Tournament.
• Cardinal Stritch have dropped their last six road contests, dating back to Dec. 28.
• Matt Reinke leads the team with 14.6 points per game, while Damian Stoneking ranks 8th in the NAIA with 55 total blocks on the year.
 

Trojans in the Polls

• Trinity earned the No. 13 spot in the latest NAIA Division II Coaches' Poll released on Tuesday, up four spots from the previous poll.
• Trinity International has appeared in the NAIA Division II Coaches Poll 24 times in program history, with this season marking the first national ranking since the 1997-98 campaign.
• Prior to Jan. 10, the Trojans' last NAIA ranking came on Jan. 6, 1998, when the TIU also 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 also moved up one spot in the latest NCCAA National Rankings, to No. 3 in the poll released on Tuesday.
• The Trojans were picked 4th in the CCAC preseason ratings, behind St. Francis, Robert Morris, and St. Xavier.
 

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.
• Zach Kirschbaum's 70 total blocks this season ranks him 3th all-time on TIU's single-season blocks list. With five blocks against Roosevelt on Saturday, Kirschbaum surpassed Dan Larson (1994-95) for No. 3 on the list.
 

Up Next

• The last non-conference game of the year is set for Tuesday, February 14 at Maranatha Baptist (Wisc.), beginning at 7:00 p.m.