Quick Notes

• Trinity International hits the road on Valentine's Day for the next-to-last game of the regular season, as the Trojans step out of conference play to take on the Maranatha Baptist (Wisc.) Sabercats.
• Streaming video of Tuesday's game can be found at MBUSabercats.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 84-83 hom win over Cardinal Stritch on Saturday, and have clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the upcoming CCAC Tournament. 
• The team has 24 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 24-4 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 on Feb. 7, 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 ranks 2nd in the NAIA in blocks (151), and in blocks per game (5.4), 10th in total steals (239), 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 18.4 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 (311), 3rd in total blocks (71), rebounds per game (11.1), and defensive rebounds per game (8.2), and 4th in blocks per game (2.5).
• Kirschbaum has posted 21 double-doubles this season, most in the NAIA, and six more than any other player in the CCAC. He also leads the league in rebounding (11.1 per game) and blocked shots, (2.5 per game).
• With five blocks against Roosevelt on Feb. 4, 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 117 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 13.7 points per game. In the win at St. Ambrose last Wednesday, Corsi posted 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
• Senior guard Luke Mead leads the Trojan bench with 11.4 points per game, the third-highest average on the team. Mead also ranks 2nd on the team in assists, averaging 2.8 per game. In the win over Cardinal Stritch on Saturday, Mead finished with a team-high 16 points, going 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
• Sophomore Jeremy Carlyle is averaging 11.1 points per game, after posting double figures in four straight games for the first time since late December. Carlyle is shooting 41.2% from three-point range and has hit at least two three-pointers in each six of the last seven games.
• Freshman guard Will Davidson leads the NAIA Division II with a 4.8 assist-to-turnover ratio. Davidson has 24 assists to just five turnovers, with at least one assist in his last seven games.
• Senior guard Sean Smith will make his 123rd career appearance on Saturday, surpassing Ignas Verbus (2007-11) for 5th on TIU's all-time list. This season, Smith is averaging 5.0 points per game on 46.9% shooting.
• Senior wing Henry French is averaging 1.6 blocks per game, and is 3rd on the CCAC leaderboard. French has 44 total blocks (18th in NAIA), and is averaging 8.5 points per game. French also leads the team with 3.0 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 .395 percentage. Carlyle is averaging 1.8 assists per game, after recording two assists in each of the last four 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 27 of 28 games this season, averaging 4.9 points and 3.2 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 Maranatha Baptist

• Saturday marks the 2nd meeting between Trinity International and Maranatha Baptist, with the Trojans winning the first matchup last season.
• Junior Zach Kirschbaum posted a game-high 21 points, as five players finished in double figures for Trinity, to earn a 103-71 victory over the  Sabercats inside Van Dixhorn Arena on Feb. 16, 2016.
• Henry French finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including a season-high three three-pointers. Thomas Amrine posted 13 points, while Grant Corsi tallied 12, and James Glass came off the bench with ten.
• The Sabercats hold a 7-14 record on the season, and are most recently coming off of a 79-70 loss to Judson.
• Junior guard Micah Shepard leads the team with 15.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
 

Trojans in the Polls

• Trinity earned the No. 13 spot in the latest NAIA Division II Coaches' Poll released on Feb. 7, 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 Feb. 7.
• 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 71 total blocks this season ranks him 3th all-time on TIU's single-season blocks list. With five blocks against Roosevelt on Feb. 4, Kirschbaum surpassed Dan Larson (1994-95) for No. 3 on the list.
 

Up Next

• The last game of the regular season is set for Saturday, february 18 at Robert Morris, beginning at 2:00 p.m.