UTC’s Trey Bonham hopes to close his college career with an NIT championship.
photo by GoMocs.com
INDIANAPOLIS - When Trey Bonham peels off his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball uniform for the final time Thursday night inside of the locker room of iconic Hinkle Fieldhouse, it will represent much more than simply the final curtain of his college career.
The moment will signify the completion of an odyssey that began as an unheralded point guard out high school with only one offer to play basketball at the Division I level, and who now, five years and three schools later, has cemented his legacy in the storied fabric of Chattanooga hoops.
Every coach except one – VMI’s Dan Earl – opted to pass on Bonham, viewed as an undersized guard at six-feet tall out of UMS-Wright Prep in Mobile, Ala. The fact his senior year was impacted by the COVID pandemic didn’t help matters.
But what those other coaches failed to realize is that they were measuring the wrong metric. They should have evaluated his heart rather than his stature, because inside of Bonham burns an oversized fierceness, something that doesn’t show up on a player’s profile sheet.
Earl recognized something special in Bonham, offering him an opportunity to play at the top level at VMI, where Earl coached for seven seasons before coming to UTC three years ago. Now, five years later on a nationally televised stage in the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament, their winding journey together will come to a close.
Chattanooga (28-9) faces UC Irvine (32-6) Thursday night a 9 p.m. ET in the finale to be aired on ESPN.
Bonham was reflective of the path that took him to VMI for two seasons where he first crossed paths with his UTC backcourt sidekick and closest friend, Honor Huff. When Earl made the move to Chattanooga, Bonham transferred to Florida for a year to get a taste of SEC competition before reuniting with his old coach and Huff at UTC these past two seasons.
“It's crazy to think about, but I look back at my career and the people who told me all throughout high school that I wouldn't get to this point,” Bonham said. “To be here, scoring over 1,000 points in college, having one of the winningest seasons in Chattanooga history, this is just what I dreamed of when I was growing up, to be on this stage at this level. Yeah, it's crazy to think that it's all over (Thursday), but it's been a been a hell of a ride.”
Bonham has actually accumulated 1,656 career points across his three stops, saving his best performance for his final act. Over the Mocs’ four NIT wins, Bonham has averaged 23 points while making 56% of his field goal attempts (34-for-61), 48% beyond the arc (12-of-25) and 92% on free throws (12-of-13). Even more impressive, he’s also hauling down nearly seven rebounds per contest during the NIT run.
This comes at the close of a season where Bonham was projected as the Southern Conference preseason player of the year, a nod toward his wizardry last year season when he averaged 16 points a game. But the makeup of this year’s Chattanooga squad was different, especially with the infusion of four fifth-year transfers in Frank Champion, Bash Wieland, Garrison Keeslar, and Jack Kostel who had all been prolific scorers in their own right at their former schools.
“I try not to really put expectations on myself,” Bonham said. “Because some years like this year, for example, I didn't have to go out and score 20 points in the game for us to win. I mean, I was preseason player of the year, and that would have been the expectation for a lot of people. But I’ve learned you’ve got to make sacrifices every year, depending on your team and just the circumstances at the time. I'm definitely proud of what I've done throughout my career.”
This level of selflessness and maturity has become a hallmark of this year’s Chattanooga squad, a team that won the SoCon regular season crown and has reeled off 16 wins in its last 17 games. It’s something that was lacking when he was hit with the stark reality of immersing himself into VMI’s military structure as a freshman.
“I would hope I'm a lot more mature than back then,” Bonham said. “My determination and just my love for basketball in general motivated me. Not having all the offers I thought I deserved in high school, then going to VMI having to shave my head, not being able to have a phone for a full year, those things just made me realize what I can go through and what I can push through. I honestly feel like I'm ready for any obstacle life throws at me, because I've been through some challenges throughout college.”
His relationship with Earl is one that Bonham cherishes and knows will endure well beyond his playing days.
“He trusted in me when nobody else did,” Bonham said. “Plus, he's just helped me grow on and off the court, from simple stuff like being on time to growing my game. He always held me accountable as a freshman, and I was one of the only freshmen to play at VMI.
“He's always had a high standard for me since we met, and I think that just made me elevate my game to another level. He never let me kind of just mess around and B.S. and always expected me to be responsible. He’s definitely been like another father figure these past few years.”
Bonham’s only regret was the fact he did not come to Chattanooga sooner, but the SoCon’s archaic rule prohibiting intra-conference moves would have required him to sit out a year along with Huff.
“I probably would have come straight to Chatt from from VMI if I had it to do over,” Bonham said. “I learned a lot about myself going to Florida. But, I mean, I just love Chattanooga.”
Now that his career has narrowed down to one final game, Bonham hasn’t allowed sentimentality to creep into his game preparations. But he does recognize that a day will come in the near future when the memories of the past five years will all come cascading down upon him.
“I don't think I'm going to really be able to process it until it's over,” Bonham said. “We’ve got a game to play, so it hasn't really hit me yet. But I think maybe in a week or two, when I’ve been sitting in my room for a few days and not going to practice, not hanging out with my guys, I think then it will really hit me.”
We asked how he would like to end his career at UTC, Bonham was quick with an answer.
“The perfect script: we win the NIT championship, and it doesn’t matter how,” Bonham said.
Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com