It’s no secret that offense — specifically a lack thereof — was one of Creighton’s key weaknesses in their recently completed season. This weekend, two junior college players that could help remedy that situation immediately will visit campus.
Malique Trent
Malique Trent, a 6’2″, 185-pound guard who played one season at New Mexico Junior College and thus would have three seasons of eligibility remaining, originally was slated to go to Norfolk State near his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia. As a senior in high school, he averaged 19.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and led Norcom High School to the Eastern District regular-season and tournament championships. Here’s some highlights of him in action in high school:
His list of offers at the time shows that he was primarily recruited by east-coast mid-and-low major schools — Appalachian State, Buffalo, Central Connecticut State, High Point, Norfolk State, Radford, Stony Brook, UTEP and VMI. After choosing Norfolk State, he wound up sitting out the 2013-14 season to work on his academic eligibility, and transferred to NMJC before playing a game for the Spartans.
As a freshman in JuCo, he averaged 16 points and three assists a game, and his stock has risen dramatically — among his suitors this time around are Tennessee, Houston, and TCU. He made 38.3% of his three-point shots, but what should be really enticing to Bluejay fans who witnessed last-second losses time after time this year is his ability to make game-winning plays in the final seconds. In early February, he hit game-winning shots in two straight games, both times bringing his team from behind to win.
The first came against Western Texas, where he caught an inbounds pass and immediately fired up a three-pointer at the buzzer to win. Here’s video of the shot from the Hobbs News-Sun’s Clayton Jones:
Malique Trent with game-winning 3 for T-Birds 64-62 over Western Texas. pic.twitter.com/KFYlR6fJ54
— Clayton Jones (@ClaytonMJones) February 6, 2015
Then three nights later against South Plains, he caught a baseball-style pass at half-court with 0.9 seconds left, and turned and fired a 35-foot shot at the buzzer. Again from Clayton Jones, here’s video of the shot:
NMJC’s Malique Trent with the game-winner in OT to beat South Plains 76-75. What … a … shot. pic.twitter.com/Vpcc9Li0My — Clayton Jones (@ClaytonMJones) February 10, 2015
For a team that lost too many games in the final minute to count, that kind of buzzer-beating ability is awfully enticing. And FWIW, he’s the 17th ranked JuCo available this spring by 247 Sports.
Mychal Mulder
The second player visiting this weekend is Mychal Mulder, a 6’4″ guard from Windsor, Ontario who played the last two seasons at Vincennes (Indiana) College. His list of suitors includes some high-profile schools — Louisville, Indiana, Kansas State, and Michigan State have reportedly shown interest, while Missouri, Minnesota, Mississippi State and Wichita State have offered — and none other than Rick Pitino was in attendance in late February when Mulder made six of seven 3-pointers.
The leading scorer on a team that spent most of the year ranked #1 in JuCo, Mulder is ranked as the 12th best JuCo player available this spring by 247 Sports. Five big-time coaches were in attendance to watch him at the Junior College National Tournament on March 16, according to Brad Winton of jucorecruiting.com — Tom Crean, Kim Anderson, Gregg Marshall, Tubby Smith, and Greg McDermott. Those coaches saw him score 20 points on 9-13 shooting while grabbing 7 rebounds in a blowout win. He reportedly wanted to commit to Wichita State in November, but his coach has a policy prohibiting players from committing in the fall, so he’s remained on the market.
This article from December on North Pole Hoops talks about his improved defense and shooting ability in his second year of JuCo ball, noting that now that his catch-and-shoot ability has been supplemented by an ability to put the ball on the floor and create, as well as defend, his ceiling is much higher.
He averaged 15.8 points this year, up from 8.6 as a freshman, and shot 49% from the field and 46% from three-point range. Here’s a quick video clip of him dunking in transition, showing off his athleticism:
It’s worth noting that Creighton technically has no room for either player visiting this weekend; they have nine returning scholarship players and four incoming players (Khyri Thomas, Marlon Stewart, Martin Krampelj, and Justin Patton), meaning someone has to go if they get a commitment from either Trent or Mulder. Draw whatever conclusions from that you will.