Quick Notes

• With just three road games left to play in the regular season, Trinity International will head west on Wednesday night to take on the St. Ambrose Bees.
• Streaming video or live stats of Wednesday's game can be found at TIUTrojans.com.
• The Trojans sit a half game behind Robert Morris for the top spot of the CCAC standings, after the Eagles suffered their first loss in league play last Wednesday. The best record in the North Division will earn an automatic bid to the NAIA Division II National Championship tournament.
• Trinity are coming off an 83-61 home win over Roosevelt on Saturday, and have clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the upcoming CCAC Tournament. 
• The team has 22 wins this season, the most victories in a single season for the program since 1996-97, when they set a program record with 27.
• Currently the Trojans are 22-4 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 three spots in the latest NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll on Jan. 24, earning the No. 17 spot. The Trojans debuted at No. 20 for their first national ranking in nearly two decades in the previous poll on Jan. 10.
• The Trojans have some of the best defensive statistics in the country this season. Trinity leads the NAIA in blocks (143), ranks 2nd in blocks per game (5.5), 9th in turnover margin (+3.8 per game), and 10th in total steals (221).
• 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 18.8 points per game, ranks among the NAIA's top three in multiple categories. The Las Vegas, Nev. native is 2nd in NAIA Division II in rebounds per game (11.2), total rebounds (290), and total blocks (69) and is 3rd in defensive rebounds per game (8.2), and blocks per game (2.7).
• Kirschbaum has posted 19 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 (11.2 per game) and blocked shots, (2.7 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 115 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 13.3 points per game. In the win over Roosevelt on Saturday, Corsi posted 11 points in just 16 minutes on the floor while dealing with foul trouble. The senior shot over 65% for the fourth time this season, going 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range.
• 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 11.0 points per game, after posting double figures in back-to-back games for the first time since late December. Carlyle is shooting 42.1% from three-point range and has averaged 3.5 made three-pointers over each of the last four games.
• Freshman guard Will Davidson leads the NAIA Division II with a 5.5 assist-to-turnover ratio. Davidson has 22 assists to just four turnovers, with nine assists in his last five games. Davidson committed his first turnover in a 20-game span in the win at Judson last Wednesday.
• Senior guard Sean Smith will make his 121st career appearance on Saturday, tying Josh Antioho (2003-07) for 6th on TIU's all-time list.
• Senior wing Henry French is averaging 1.5 blocks per game, and is 4th on the CCAC leaderboard. French has 40 total blocks (19th in NAIA), and is averaging 8.5 points per game. French also leads the team with 3.2 assists per game, but has averaged 4.7 assists over the last three games.
• 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 .407 percentage. In the month of January, Carlyle shot .417 (10-24) and has hit at least one three in eight of his last ten 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 26 games this season, averaging 4.6 points and 3.0 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game.
• Freshman center Rick Wright made his Trojan debut on Jan. 3 in the win over St. Ambrose. On Jan. 25, Wright set a new season high with four rebounds in the win over SXU.
 

About St. Ambrose

• Saturday marks the 7th meeting between Trinity International and St. Ambrose. The Bees lead the all-time series 5-1.
• Trinity won for the first time in the series earlier this year, with an 83-79 home win on Jan. 3. 
• Despite leading by double digits with just over five minutes to play, Trinity needed two big defensive stops to hold off the Bees in their last meeting on Jan. 3, earning an 83-79 victory inside Van Dixhorn Arena.
• Trailing 75-63 with 5:45 to play, St. Ambrose rallied to outscore Trinity 16-3 over the next four minutes. A pair of free throws from Luke Mead on the Trojans' next possession would put the home team back in front with 1:00 remaining, and the Bees would miss on back-to-back go-ahead three-pointers to close out the game.
• Corsi finished as the Trojans' leading scorer, posting 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Zach Kirschbaum scored 15 points, while Mead and Greg Carlyle came off the bench for 14 and 11, respectively.
• The Bees currently sit 14th in the CCAC standings, 2.5 games out of a playoff spot for the CCAC Tournament.
• St. Ambrose has dropped six of its last seven conference games, but earned an 83-70 win at home over Silver Lake (Wisc.) last Wednesday.
• Eric Dust leads the team with 17.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
 

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 69 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

• Trinity's final regular season home game is set for next Saturday, February 11 against Cardinal Stritch. The team will also honor its six seniors as part of the Senior Day festivities.
• The last non-conference game of the year is set for Tuesday, February 14 at Maranatha Baptist (Wisc.), beginning at 7:00 p.m.