Trifecta Makes History for Spartans

By: Bill English, USC Upstate

For the first time in its storied program history, USC Upstate has fielded a men’s basketball team this season with three players who have reached 1,000 points in their careers. It should be no surprise to anyone that those three players are Torrey Craig, Ty Green and Ricardo Glenn.

Craig has garnered much of the attention around the program since he burst onto the scene as a freshman and earned A-Sun Freshman of the Year honors in 2010-11. He went on to earn A-Sun Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, leading the Spartans to an appearance in the College Invitational Tournament, the program’s first postseason berth since moving to Division I in 2007, and pulling off a win against a strong Kent State program in the first round. Building one of the top careers in program history, Craig has already moved into third place on Upstate’s career scoring list and is just the third player in school history to reach 2,000 points.

While Craig reached his 1,000th career point during his junior season in 2012-13, Greene and Glenn reached the milestone this season. Greene reached 1,000 points in the A-Sun season opener at Mercer in early January. A three-point threat, he also has the ability to drive to the hole and draw fouls to join Craig a multi-dimensional player. With a year of eligibility left, he is on pace to top 1,600 career points and should easily move into the Top 5 on Upstate’s all-time scoring list.

If there was any player who could quietly reach 1,000 career points, it would be Glenn. With Craig in the limelight and Greene coming on board to give the Spartans another strong perimeter scorer, Glenn quietly went about his business as the quintessential role player. After a solid freshman campaign when he averaged 5.4 points, he became a scoring threat as a sophomore, finishing the year a shade under 10 points a game.

Last season, he averaged 10.5 points and has continued to improve offensively as a senior. While not putting up the lofty numbers seen from Craig and Greene, he has been a complement to their efforts, reaching his 1,000th career point at Florida Gulf Coast in January.

The trio of Craig, Greene and Glenn has established a foundation for future Upstate basketball teams to build upon. While the program boasts the 1982 NAIA National Championship and several appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament in its proud history, no Upstate team has ever boasted players on the same team who could score as prolifically as the Upstate trio of Craig, Greene and Glenn.