While students were at home, Trinity men’s basketball stirred up commotion in the Division III basketball world. Last week, after back-to-back wins on the road against the McMurry University War Hawks and Concordia University Tornados, Trinity improved to an eight game winning streak and the second seed in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
With Trinity rising in the ranks, three names stand out: Jimmy Smith, head coach of five seasons for the Trinity Tigers; Christian Green, Trinity’s leading scorer and Jacob Harvey, an elite two-way player that is a versatile shooter and defender.
Much of the Tigers’ early season success can be attributed to the extraordinary defense of senior guard Jacob Harvey. Harvey steals the ball with precision, as he has multiple games with over three steals and has twice as many steals as he has fouls.
“We praise high activity in getting deflections and steals,” Harvey said. “A lot of it is [Green] on the wing and our bigs playing in the middle, so a lot of the fouls kinda deflect to those guys and not so much the top, just getting deflections and being active on the ball.”
In addition to his defense, Harvey is a skilled three-point shooter. He’s shot almost 40% over his Trinity career and leads Trinity in all time 3-point shots made.
“I always start the [shooting] workouts with something close to the basket and just getting touch shots and a feel around the rim and then start to work my way out,” Harvey said. “I think it all just comes down to consistency in the gym and then getting quality reps in.”
Green is Trinity’s leading scorer this season and an elite rebounder, especially due to being undersized for his position. The sophomore recently won the Bevo Francis Top 100 award, an award given to the player with the most significant overall season in small college basketball.
“It was kinda nice being recognized because only a certain handful of college basketball athletes got this award,” Green said. “I think just my team and then the coaching staff that we have here just allows me to be the best version of myself for myself and my teammates.”
Despite only being a sophomore, the accolades of All-SCAC First Team and D3hoops.com All Region Rookie of the Year speak volumes. According to Green, veteran leadership has contributed significantly to the player he is.
“Coming in as a freshman and sophomore … I had big shoes to fill,” Green said. “The seniors that we had last year and this year have welcomed me with open arms and have allowed me to step into that role, also my other teammates not being selfish and allowing me to showcase what I can do and really just letting the game come to me.”
Both stars had unique perspectives on their success, but their head coach was common to both. Coach Smith has been Trinity’s men’s basketball coach for the past five seasons and has led the team to a 79-16 record.
“This year early on we won some close games but weren’t playing as well or as hard as we needed to be, and we had a tough loss at Shreiner,” Smith said. “We just realized we needed to pick up our intensity defensively. Since we have done that, I think you have seen us take off. We are scoring the ball better, getting out in transition more and then defensively we are creating so many more steals.”
Going into the second half of the season, the team looks to get students involved during the games for the rest of the season.
“We are excited to finally have some home games this weekend with students here, it will be our first two games with the students in school, so that will be fun,” Smith said. “I know there are some events going on Friday before the game which hopefully will encourage people to come out, on top of being the first opportunity for people to see us.”
The veteran coach also gave some thoughts about what fans should expect post Friday.
“More than anything you’re gonna see a team that’s just gonna continue to improve and peak at the end of the season. In years past maybe we’ve kinda been the same version of ourselves from midpoint to the end, whereas this year I just see us continuing to get better and individual players figuring it out and continuing to improve as well,” Smith said.
The Trinity men’s team will face the University of the Ozarks at home on Jan. 31, and Centenary College at home the following day on Feb. 1.
