#MarchTrey is a thing
This time a year ago, Trey Townsend was preparing to experience a lifelong dream by appearing in the NCAA Tournament with the same school where his father played. What happened after that was just gravy.
Townsend scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to help 14th-seeded Oakland upset No. 3 Kentucky in a first round game in Pittsburgh. And while teammate Jack Gohlke got most of the headlines thanks to his 32 points (including 10 3-pointers) it was Townsend who had been the driving force behind the Golden Grizzlies making their first NCAA appearance in 13 years.
“My entire career at Oakland, my coach would always say the tournament is something like you could never imagine,” Townsend said. “It’s such a special thing. And it took until my fourth season there to finally get there.”
No longer the go-to guy, Townsend is now a role player at Arizona. His 8.3 points per game are less than half what he averaged a year ago, and while he’s started 27 of 32 games he’s averaging just 21.4 minutes.
Townsend played a season-low eight minutes in the Big 12 title game against Houston, but in the three games prior to that he averaged 13 points and five rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field and 88.9 percent from the line. Seemingly overnight, the #MarchTrey that went off for Oakland last year—he had 30 points in an overtime loss to NC State in the second round, after dropping a career-high 38 in the Horizon League tournament final—had started to reappear.
“I just started seeing the ball going a little bit more, that always builds the confidence,” he said. “My coaches and teammates never lost that confidence in me. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes and I’ve been really trying to play with the mentality that these are my last couple college games ever. Especially now that it’s March, it is tournament time, it’s win or go home, so trying to play with that mindset that this could be last time I step on the court and pass that to my teammates as well.”
That approach is something Townsend has tried to share with teammates, particularly ones that have never played in the NCAA Tournament like freshman Carter Bryant or Campbell transfer Anthony Dell’Orso.
“I just want them to enjoy the whole experience,” he said. “It really is such a special thing. Like everyone says it, but once you’re there playing in it, you see everything. There’s nothing like it throughout the whole season. Just go play your game, like you don’t want to change a whole lot about what you’re doing, because that’s where I think things can go wrong, like you just do what you did to get there.”
Arizona is the No. 4 seed in the East Region and opens against No. 13 Akron on Friday in Seattle. The Zips are heavy underdogs, but so was Oakland against Kentucky.
“It is March, and anything can happen especially nowadays,” Townsend said. “Any team can beat anybody, you don’t want to overlook anyone, and that’s when you start to kind of face those problems if you are overlooking, thinking about what’s ahead. We’ve learned from beginning of the season struggles to never underestimate any opponent. Just play like it is your last game because really, now that we’re here, this is. Every time we step on the go to could be the last time so just playing every game like you’re playing the 1 seed.”