Quick Notes

• Trinity International advances to the second round of the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship for just the second time in program history, and will face off against No. 25 Taylor (Ind.) with a spot in Saturday's quarterfinal round on the line.
• 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.
• Taylor was the No. 7 seed in the Naismith Bracket, and upset 2nd-seeded Warner (Fla.) 73-67 in their first round matchup.
• 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 29 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
(182), ranks 2nd in blocks per game (5.4), 6th in total steals (304), and 7th in turnover margin (+3.9 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 17.2 points per game, and ranks among the NAIA's top five in multiple categories. The Las Vegas, Nev. native is tied for the lead in the NAIA-II in total blocks (80), 2nd in rebounds (363), 3rd in defensive rebounds per game (8.1), 4th in blocks per game (2.4), and 5th in rebounds per game (11.0)
• With 12 points, Kirschbaum can become 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 has posted 23 double-doubles this season, most in NAIA-II, and seven 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 129 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 13.8 points per game. The senior has reached double figures in eight of his last nine games, finishing with eight points and six rebounds in Wednesday's win over Ozarks (Mo.).
• Sophomore Jeremy Carlyle is averaging 11.8 points per game, and has led the Trojans in scoring during all four postseason games to date. Carlyle leads the team with a three-point shooting percentage of 43.7%.
• Senior guard Luke Mead leads the Trojan bench with 11.5 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 Ozarks, Mead finished with 13 points, going 3-for-6 from three-point range.
• Senior guard Sean Smith will make his 129th career appearance on Wednesday, surpassing Levi Arnold (2004-08) for the 3rd-most games played in TIU history. This season, Smith is averaging 5.1 points per game on 44.4% 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 1.6 blocks per game, and is 4th on the CCAC leaderboard. French has 56 total blocks (13th 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 .402 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 7.9 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 32 of 34 games this season, averaging 4.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game.
• Freshman guard Will Davidson ranks 28th 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 Taylor (Ind.)

• The Taylor Trojans earned a No. 7 seed in the Division II Men's Basketball National Championships, earning the ninth and final at-large berth into the tournament.
• Friday will mark the 5th meeting between Trinity International and Taylor, with the previous four matchups resulting in wins for TU.
• Taylor started the season with ten straight victories, but have gone just 11-11 since Dec. 6. The Trojans won three straight from Feb. 11-18 before falling in the first round of the Crossroads League tournament to Spring Arbor (Mich.).
• Guard Tim Fleming ranks 32nd in NAIA-II with a 2.6 assist-turnover ratio, and 43rd in total steals, with 51.
• Mason Degenkolb leads the team with 17.5 points per game.

 

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 83 total blocks this season ranks him 2nd all-time on TIU's single-season blocks list. Dan Larson (1995-96) currently holds the record with 87 blocks.
• Kirschbaum also sits 3rd in the TIU record book in rebounding, with 374 boards this season. The senior needs 44 more rebounds to match Marc Davidson's 1994-95 season, and 67 more for Davidson's record-setting 1993-94 campaign
• Jeremy Carlyle has made 83 three-pointers this season, tied for 4th-most in a single season in Trinity history. Carlyle can reach Thomas Amrine (2013-14) for 3rd with two more threes.

Up Next

• With a win over the Taylor, Trinity International will advance to the quarterfinals at the Division II Men's Basketball National Championships. The Trojans would face off on Saturday, Mar. 11 at a time to be determined, against either No. 1 seed Union (Ky.), or No. 5 seed College of Idaho.