“It’s a great feeling, obviously, when shots are falling. But honestly, I don’t even think about that game anymore because we lost. Having 28 points doesn’t mean anything,” he said.
The same goes for the night he rose up for 21 points against Purdue, a total topped by only two other players this season against the Boilermakers.
If Calvin had to single out his best game this year, it’d be the 14-point, five assist, two-steal showing in the Purdue Fort Wayne win. He attempted only six shots, making five, and was at his facilitating best.
“I like to do a little bit of everything,” he said. “Against Cleveland State, some of our guys weren’t playing well, and if I can get them going on the offensive end rather than me scoring, I’d chose that for sure.”
That’s just what coach Scott Nagy wants to hear.
“I need him to be our point guard and worry more about taking care of the ball and getting good shots for guys more than I do his scoring,” Nagy said.
“It’s the same thing when we had Cole Gentry. He once had 30 points against Toledo (in an 84-74 win as a senior in 2018-19). But then there were games when Cole scored six. He didn’t care. He was about winning, and that’s what we need from Trey.”
But if Calvin is feeling it — especially when offense isn’t coming from the usual sources — Nagy certainly won’t get in his way.
“When he’s got it going like against Cleveland State, we want him to go,” Nagy said. “They started off the game and tried to double team him in the frontcourt, and he just went right by it.
“He’s just playing so much more confidently. He’s not tiptoeing around. He’s really taking the ball and going with it.”
Nagy knew Calvin would blossom into an offensive force when it was hard for others visualize it.
In his first year as a starter last season, he shot 34.9% from the field and 32.0 on 3′s while averaging 9.7 points.
He’s scoring 12.6 per game this season while lifting his shooting clips to 40.2% from the floor and 32.4 from the arc. His 80% free-throw shooting also is a career best.
“When we recruited him, he was a tremendous offensive player and tremendous shooter,” Nagy said.
Calvin once scored 36 in a high school game and won a state 3-point contest.
“The thing he’s done more consistently this fall — it hasn’t really shown up yet, but it’s starting to — is finishing around the basket,” Nagy said. “He’s making little, short runners off the glass and pivot jumpers in the lane. That’s helped him a lot.”
Calvin has been as surprised as anyone by the Raiders’ rocky start, although he’s heard enough from the staff to know shoddy defense is the main culprit.
That doesn’t apply to him since he’s the team’s best on-ball defender. But others either aren’t as gifted or committed.
“If defense is our main priority — if we’re locked in on the defensive end — I don’t think anybody can beat us,” Calvin said.
“That’s what we’re working on, and we’ll get it together soon.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Akron at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 103.9
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