Quick Notes

• Trinity International men's basketball has reached the quarterfinal round of the 2017 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship, marking the deepest tournament run in program history, and the first NAIA tournament quarterfinal appearance for any sport.
• The Trojans will face off against Union (Ky.), who came into the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
• Streaming video throughout the Division II Men's Basketball National Championships is available at NAIANetwork.com. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament package is available at $29.95. An audio-only broadcast will also be streaming for free at TIUTrojans.com.
• The Trojans earned a No. 3 seed in the National Championships, in their first tournament appearance since 2006-07. Trinity earned a 72-55 victory over the host College of the Ozarks (Mo.) on Wednesday, and defeated Taylor (Ind.) 74-72 on Friday.
• Union is the No. 1 seed in the Naismith Bracket, and knocked off 8th-seeded Aquinas (Mich.) 95-83 in the first round on Wednesday, and edged out College of Idaho 83-82 on Friday night.
• Trinity won a share of their first-ever CCAC regular season title, finishing with an 18-2 record in league play. The Trojans clinched the championship with a 93-81 road win over then-No. 8 Robert Morris on Feb. 18.
• The team has 30 wins this season, setting the all-time program record, and breaking the original mark of 27 victories set in 1996-97. Going into the NAIA National Championships, Trinity's 28 wins ranked 4th among tournament contenders. Trinity has also secured back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in two decades (1995-96, 1996-97).
• TIU held steady in the final NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll released on Mar. 1, earning the No. 11 spot. The Trojans debuted at No. 20 for their first national ranking in nearly two decades in the poll on Jan. 10, and have moved up in each new edition of the poll since.
• The Trojans have some of the best defensive statistics in the country this season. Trinity leads NAIA-II in blocks
(188), ranks 2nd in blocks per game (5.4), 4th in total steals (317), and 7th in turnover margin (+4.0 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 17.1 points per game, and ranks among the NAIA's top five in multiple categories. The Las Vegas, Nev. native leads the NAIA-II in total blocks (86), and rebounds (388), 3rd in defensive rebounds per game (8.2), 4th in blocks per game (2.5), and rebounds per game (11.1)
• With 14 points in Friday's win over Taylor, Kirschbaum became the 20th Trojan to ever score 1,000 career points, and the 4th player in the last three years to reach the 1,000-point mark. Nate Ball and Dillon Wadsack reached a thousand points in 2015, while Thomas Amrine completed the feat last season. Kirschbaum now ranks 20th all-time on the TIU scoring list, with 1,002 points.
• Kirschbaum has posted 24 double-doubles this season, most in NAIA-II, and eight more than any other player in the CCAC. He also leads the league in rebounding and blocked shots.
• 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 132 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 this season, with 13.7 points per game. The senior has reached double figures in nine of his last ten games, finishing with 11 points including the game-winning bucket with 2.2 seconds remaining in Friday's win over Taylor (Ind.).
• Sophomore Jeremy Carlyle is averaging 11.9 points per game, and has led the Trojans in scoring during all four of five postseason games to date. Since the regular season finale at Robert Morris on Feb. 18, Carlyle has averaged 16.5 points per game. He leads the team with a three-point shooting percentage of 43.3%.
• Senior guard Luke Mead leads the Trojan bench with 11.7 points per game, the fourth-highest average on the team. Mead also ranks 2nd on the team in assists, averaging 2.6 per game. In the win over Taylor, Mead led the team with 18 points, including a trio of three-pointers on consecutive possessions that helped fuel the Trojans' comeback victory after trailing by as much as 18 points in the first half on Friday night.
• Senior guard Sean Smith will make his 130th career appearance on Wednesday, tying Chad Reilly (2004-08) for the 2nd-most games played in TIU history. This season, Smith is averaging 4.9 points per game on 43.7% shooting. in the CCAC Quarterfinal vs. Purdue-Northwest on Feb. 21, Smith scored double-figures for the fourth time this season, finishing with 12 points and five rebounds.
• Senior wing Henry French is averaging 1.7 blocks per game, and is 17th on the NAIA-II leaderboard. French has 58 total blocks (12th in NAIA-II), and is averaging 8.6 points per game. French also leads the team with 2.8 assists per game.
• French is one of four players competing at the NABC-NAIA Shoot & Slam presented by US Bank. French was the winner of a fan vote on Instagram, earning the final spot in the dunk contest, and will compete during the NAIA Division I Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. on Mar. 18.
• Sophomore guard Greg Carlyle is second on the team in three-point shooting, with a .391 percentage. Carlyle finished with 13 points against Ozarks (Mo.) on Wednesday, with a 3-for-6 performance from long range. The twin brother of Jeremy, Greg is averaging 7.8 points per game.
• 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 33 of 35 games this season, averaging 4.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game.
• Freshman guard Will Davidson ranks 27th in NAIA Division II with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. Davidson has 31 assists to 12 turnovers, dishing out two assists with no turnovers in nine minutes of play against Ozarks on Wednesday.
• Freshman center Rick Wright made his Trojan debut on Jan. 3 in the win over St. Ambrose. In the rematch with the Bees on Feb. 8, Wright set a career high with 10 points, his first game in double-figures as a Trojan. He played a season-high 13 minutes in the CCAC Tournament against Purdue-Northwest on Feb. 21.

 

About Union (Ky.)

• The Bulldogs come into the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship as the top-ranked team in the final coaches poll, released on Mar. 1. Union boasts an overall record of 32-3 heading into the quarterfinal round.
• Saturday will mark the first ever meeting between Trinity International and Union.
• Union suffered a three-game losing streak from Nov. 4-8, but since has won 30 games in a row, including an undefeated 20-0 run through the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular season.
• Tyrone Sherman ranks 4th in NAIA-II with 70 total steals, and 6th in total assists, with 214. Gerrard Newby is 5th in the nation in total rebounds, with 342.
• Newby also leads the team in scoring, averaging 20.8 points per game. Paul Stone is second on the team with 17.9 points each night.

 

Trojans in the Polls

• Trinity earned the No. 11 spot in the latest NAIA Division II Coaches' Poll released on Mar. 1, holding the same spot from the previous rankings.
• Trinity International has appeared in the NAIA Division II Coaches Poll 26 times in program history, with this season marking the first national ranking since the 1997-98 campaign.
• 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 held steady in the final NCCAA regular season National Rankings, at No. 4 in the poll released on Feb. 28.
• 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 86 total blocks this season ranks him 2nd all-time on TIU's single-season blocks list, just one shy of Dan Larson (1995-96), who currently holds the record with 87 blocks.
• Kirschbaum also sits 3rd in the TIU record book in rebounding, with 388 boards this season. The senior needs 30 more rebounds to match Marc Davidson's 1994-95 season, and 53 more for Davidson's record-setting 1993-94 campaign
• Jeremy Carlyle has made 87 three-pointers this season, tied for 2nd-most in a single season in Trinity history. Carlyle can reach Joe Mann (1996-97) for 1st with nine more threes.

 

Up Next

• With a win over Union, Trinity International will advance to the semifinals at the Division II Men's Basketball National Championships. The Trojans would face off on Monday, Mar. 13 at a 6:00 p.m., against the Cramer Bracket champion, either Indiana Wesleyan or Tabor (Kan.).