Trevor Seibring shoots while cousin Spencer Seibring rebounds during an Illinois Wesleyan practice session. (Photo by Eric Stock/WJBC)

By Eric Stock

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Given that Illinois Wesleyan’s men’s basketball team returned three starters from last year’s NCAA Division III Final Four team, Trevor Seibring could reasonably expect to merely compete for a reserve spot on coach Ron Rose’s prodigiously deep bench this season.

“I didn’t expect to see this much playing time,” Siebring said.

After the Titans’ returning starter at center, Mike Marietti, opened the season with plantar fasciitis and later suffered a broken thumb, the sophomore Seibring has proven to be more than an accessory piece on IWU’s No. 9-ranked team, which opens the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Tournament against Nazareth College on Monday.

“He went from being a key contributor to needing to produce on a nightly basis,” Rose said of Seibring’s emergence. “That’s not easy to do as a sophomore in your first real varsity action.”

The 6-foot-8 Seibring is averaging 10.6 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds while starting all nine games after playing sparingly as a freshman.

Seibring, a Normal Community product whose cousin Spencer is a teammate and whose sister, Katy, was a recent Titan basketball standout, figured he would simply be an ‘energy’ guy off the bench, but said his teammates help him adjust to a larger role.

“It was tough at first, but my teammates had confidence in me,” Seibring said. “They said if you can do it in open gym, you can do it here. Just keep working hard.” 

Rose said Seibring hasn’t backed down from the added workload, often playing 25-30 minutes per night.

“We have asked him to do a lot of things very early on in his career and we are very proud of him because he hasn’t flinched,” Rose said, adding he will likely experiment with Seibring and Marietti on the floor at the same time now that Marietti has been cleared to play.

The Titans (7-2) are playing their final two non-conference games in California before they start play in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Saturday at North Central.

WJBC 1230 AM and WJBC.com will have the game vs. Nazareth from Gilbert Arena at Cal Lutheran University at 9:30 p.m.  Wesleyan will play either host Cal Lutheran or Fontbonne at either 8 or 10 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].