SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University Men's Basketball turns its focus back to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference for the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign this week as it hosts Schreiner University for the final contest of 2022. On the other side of New Year's, Trinity will welcome Colorado College to the Bell Center.
Sophomore guard
Jacob Harvey (Huffman, Texas / Hargrave) earned the first SCAC Player of the Week award of his career following his first 30-point performance in the Tigers' (7-4) 84-63 victory over University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to conclude the 2022 Leslie Robinson Christmas Classic on Thursday.
Through the Tigers' 7-4 record, Trinity is undefeated both in home and neutral contests. Two road losses came with a margin of two possessions while the other two came to teams currently ranked nationally by D3hoops.com between No. 5 University of Rochester and No. 18 University of St. Thomas.
SCAC Player of the Week: Jacob Harvey
Harvey averaged 22.5 points per contest between last week's pair of victories in the annual winter tournament and shot 64.7 percent from three-point range for 11 successful attempts from beyond the arc. Harvey's 30-point game against the Pointers was accomplished with more than 10 minutes remaining in the contest as he tied his previous career-high of 23 points at the half.
Preview: Tigers Return to SCAC Competition
So far this season, Trinity leads the SCAC in scoring offense (78.6 per game), defensive rebounds per game (29.55) and steals per game (10.3).
Senior guard
AJ Clark (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) has been a catalyst to the Tigers' well-distributed offense as he ranks second in the SCAC with 38 assists including a season-high eight dimes in the victory over UWSP. On top of facilitation, Clark leads the effort on the boards with a 7.1 per-game average, twice posting double-doubles in back-to-back contests in the 2022 Leslie Robinson Thanksgiving Classic.
Harvey's prowess beyond the arc has put him atop the SCAC with 3.1 made three-pointers per game, a 48.4 shooting clip from distance and 31 total made attempts. He is one of four Tigers averaging double-digits in scoring this season, another byproduct of Trinity's ball movement powered by Clark.
The conference's leading defense in steals features four players with double-digit totals for the season, though first-year
Zach Fenn (Covington, La. / Saint Paul's) holds a comfortable lead on his teammates in the category with 24 takeaways off the bench. While 2.2 steals per game is already an impressive mark for a rookie, Fenn averages a steal every five minutes spent on the floor this season.
On top of the strong perimeter defense, Trinity has logged a block in each of its last six games, with three or more in four of those contests. Sophomore forward
Braxton Barry (Houston, Texas / Westbury Christian) leads the effort inside with seven rejections on the season, collecting all three blocked shots against the Pointers for a new career high.
On the Mountaineers: The third seed in the 2022 SCAC Championship tournament, Schreiner opened the season 6-1, including a 5-1 record against programs in the American Southwest Conference and a 17-point victory over Hendrix College. Since then, Trinity's league travel partner dropped both of its SCAC opening-weekend matchups on the road to St. Thomas and Centenary College, then fell at University of Texas-Dallas and at home to Sul Ross State University.
The Mountaineers are led by sophomore center Kamden Ross as the only player averaging double-digits in points (12.5) along with runner-up marks in the SCAC in several statistical categories including 1.45 blocks per game, 9.5 rebounds per game and a 63.7 shooting percentage from the floor. Ross has posted 20-plus points three times this season, all three resulting in double-doubles, with a 33-point, 15-rebound performance against Concordia University at the Paul Peak Classic at Southwestern University.
On the Tigers: Despite a 2-6 start to the 2022-23 season, Colorado College has opened SCAC action on the right foot with a pair of home victories over Austin College and University of Dallas, both by double-digit margins, leading to its 4-6 record ahead of its visit to Schreiner on New Year's Eve.
The other SCAC Tigers have themselves the statistical answer to
Jacob Harvey in sophomore guard Scott Ruegg, the runner-up to Trinity's prolific shooter in the conference's outside-shooting categories. First-year guard Dinari Boykin leads Colorado College overall with 15.4 points per game playing just 21.7 minutes a contest, primarily off the bench.
Looking Ahead: SCAC Play Continues from the Road
Trinity Men's Basketball will play six of its next eight games on the road in league play, including four straight away from home at Dallas (Jan. 6), Austin (Jan. 7), Texas Lutheran University (Jan. 13) and Southwestern (Jan. 14) to conclude the first round-robin of the conference schedule.
The Tigers will host the 2023 SCAC Men's Basketball Championship February 24-26.
