Xavier Nation Magazine Feature: The Power of Two

One half of what could be the most prolific scoring duo in Xavier men's basketball history is needling the other half. Because that is what they do: Score lots of points and needle each other. We sat down and asked this dynamic duo to tell us about each other.

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This isn't malarkey—J.P. and Trevon are approaching some Musketeer history. Entering their senior seasons, they've already combined for more career points than all but six other duos who played all four seasons together. With 2,639 points and counting, they trail only Stanley Burrell and Josh Duncan, Jamie Gladden and Aaron Williams, Tu Holloway and Kenny Frease, Byron Larkin and Dexter Campbell, Lenny Brown and Gary Lumpkin, and Romain Sato and Lionel Chalmers.

Sato and Chalmers combined for 3,561 points in 253 games. If Trevon and J.P combine for 32.9 points per game, as they did last season, they would become the highest-scoring duo by the season's 28th game.

You might not have known that these two were double-teaming a piece of history. But that's not what we wanted to talk to them about. Not really. Xavier Nation wanted to know what they knew about one another. Is No. 5 (Trevon) a mirror image of No. 55 (J.P.)?

We asked them to take a few steps in each other's shoes (easy, since both wear size 13). Here's some of what we found out.

In the familiar, shorter twist on the game H-O-R-S-E, when you make a shot, your opponent has to match or he gets a letter; spell out P-I-G and you lose. J.P. and Trevon agreed to a game for our cameras, because that's another thing they like to do. Both say they played probably 30 times last year. How often they played is one of the few things they agree on.

Trevon: You only beat me like twice the whole year.

J.P.: That is not true. So not true.

Trevon: If there are 30 games in the regular season, 20. I'm the reigning champ. At least 20. Be honest. All the times at Cintas Center? Be honest.

J.P.: Probably 16–14, Tre. But I know I'm better. I just fold sometimes. So when he wins, this is what happens. I'll be up, like, three games to zero. And he'll keep playing and playing until it's four-two, then five-three, and he'll stay out there until he gets up six-five. And then he runs through the tunnel.

We usually play after our pregame workouts. We have maybe 10, 15 minutes to play, enough to get in four, five games, sometimes more. If I get up one, it's just smart to leave on that.

J.P.: So that's what he does.

Trevon: He could do that, too.

J.P.: I like to get extra shots up. I'm dedicated.

Trevon: [The half-court shot], that's my go-to. That's how I like to finish people off.

J.P.: Why don't you ask me that question? Bank. He can't bank. Even if he just did, he can't bank.

In August, J.P. And Trevon were captains for Xavier's annual team softball game; the team captained by J.P. and Kerem Kanter beat Trevon's and Sean O'Mara's team 11–6.

J.P.: We just drafted way, way better than team Bluiett/O'Mara. We did background checks on every player. We really took the time for our picks. We wanted to take as many coaches as we can, and no new guys. We took as many coaches as we could, and Tre ended up with a lot of players, and our players aren't very good at softball, as you can see by the score of the game. Unbelievable draft by myself.

Trevon: I have to disagree. We knew what we were getting out of our picks—obviously, not as much experience as the coaches, who play every single year, but we wanted a group of guys that were going to give us their all. We were looking to be more athletic, which didn't work out in our favor. I was proud of my team, Team Bluiett/O'Mara. It was close for the most part. One inning got out of hand.

J.P.: What did you lose by?

Trevon: Five.

J.P.: I thought it was six.

Trevon: Five, six, it wasn't 10.

J.P.: That's still a lot of runs, you know.

Trevon is from Indianapolis, where he led Park Tudor High to three Indiana state championships. J.P. is from Lakeville, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul, where he led Lakeville North to a state title as a senior.

Trevon: Best thing about Minnesota?

J.P. (helpfully): Lots of water.

Trevon: You know, I've never been to Minnesota, so it's hard to say. I've heard it's beautiful. They don't have many people. Probably just Kris Humphries.

J.P.: I'd say [Indiana] produces some pretty good basketball players. Other than that, it's not a very cool place. It's not as clean as Minnesota. It's not in the top five places to live in the United States, like Minnesota is. I mean, it's a very average place.

Who's the better cook?

J.P.: I can cook. I usually do frozen pizzas. And my scrambled eggs are really, really good.

Trevon: Can I ask a question?

J.P.: Yeah, what's up?

Trevon: Because you can put a frozen pizza in the oven, you think you can cook?

J.P.: Yeah. I gotta explain myself. Some people mess a frozen pizza up. Black on the bottom, crunchy…mine are perfect. And my scrambled eggs? [Whistles] Drizzled with cheese. I'm probably never going to make you scrambled eggs, but if I do? You'd love them. Tre can't cook. He just comes to my room and eats all my food.

Trevon: I will say he's not lying. When I come up there, I eat his food.

J.P.: Can I say something? When he comes up and asks if he can have a bag of chips, I expect he's going to eat a bag of chips. If I say yes to a bag of chips, he hears me saying yes to everything else. No matter what's in there, he's going to eat it.

Trevon: Once you get that confirmation, why not go all in?

What's his favorite movie?

Trevon: He's more of an action type of guy. Like Planet of the Apes.

J.P.: Remember that movie Super Size Me? He's probably watching that. You ever see Home Alone? What's that kid's name, Macauley Culkin? That's Tre. Fat Albert, too.

Trevon: Fat Albert. Big fan.

What makes the other laugh?

J.P.: He really loves SpongeBob. That's his favorite show. He'll sit in the living room giggling, cracking up. He's a pretty happy guy. SpongeBob. Tre's still a little kid.

Trevon: Just doing something stupid. J.P. likes doing that kind of stuff himself, so he thinks it's funny when somebody else does it, too.

Can the other sing?

Trevon: No.

J.P.: Yea, he actually can. He said he was going to sing you a song when he got out here. (Turns to Tre): Remember that? We were talking about it in the locker room.

The other's favorite artist?

Trevon: That's tough. Right now I'd say Post Malone. What's that song?

J.P.: "Candy Paint!" "Candy Paint!"

Trevon: Whenever we go on trips, he's always playing "Candy Paint" by Post Malone. Talk about someone playing a song out so quick. One time we had lifting and he played it three times in a row. Three times. Come on.

J.P.: Probably Meek Mill. He's a big fan of Meek. I'm personally not a fan. He wakes up? Meek. Breakfast? Meek. Lunch? Meek. Dinner? Meek. Listens to Meek when he goes to bed. Listens to Meek while he's sleeping. What's your favorite Meek song?

Trevon: I don't like Meek.

What scares the other?

J.P.: I feel like he doesn't like spiders.

Trevon: No, I definitely don't like spiders.

J.P.: I'm not scared of anything.

Trevon: Nothing. He does roller coasters. He does airplane rides.

J.P.: Everybody does airplane rides.

Trevon: I don't like airplane rides, by the way. But he does cannonballs off cliffs. Nothing scares him.

J.P.: I mean, I don't like snakes. At all. Those things are disgusting. Outside of that, no.

What pregame rituals does the other have?

Trevon: He likes to take a shower. Every single game. We have position meetings before the games so it's only like three of us.

J.P.: I don't really see him before games.

What's his favorite place to play away from the friendly confines of Cintas Center?

J.P.: His is definitely…what is it, Dunkin Donuts Center [in Providence)?

Trevon: (laughs) Oh, man. No.

J.P.: That or Butler.

Trevon: Not Providence, but I definitely like going home [to Indianapolis] and seeing family. And playing against the crowd and hearing the boos. I'd say his would be Creighton, because it's closest to his home. And Georgetown. I don't know what it is, but he always has great games at Georgetown.

J.P.: It's their shower.

In the NBA, Trevon likes Carmelo Anthony; J.P.'s guy is Steph Curry. Who wins 1-on-1?

J.P.: Steph.

Trevon: No, no, no.

J.P.: Depends who has the ball first.

(Say it's make it-take it, Steph gets the ball first.)

J.P.: Steph.

Trevon: How many dribbles? I think they would have a dribble limit. Say three dribbles, play to five. I'm definitely going to say Melo. Steph is not going to score five buckets in a row on Carmelo.

J.P.: You think Carmelo is going to score five in a row on Steph?

Trevon: Steph's little. You've seen Carmelo's workout videos this summer.

J.P.: Steph has the ball! You think Carmelo's going to guard him?

Trevon: Steph's gonna settle.

J.P.: Steph's gonna go wherever he wants.

Trevon: Not with three dribbles.

What trait do you most admire about the other?

Trevon: How caring he is, his love of the game and his love of his teammates. On and off the court, he does whatever he has to do to make a person feel comfortable. A lot of freshmen look up to him.

J.P.: His work ethic. Honestly, he gets in the gym more than anybody I know. He's also encouraging to his teammates, whether it's in the gym, weight room, Ignition, sand workouts, hills…he's always talking. He brings a lot of energy to whatever we're doing.

What do you like most about what the other brings to the court?

Trevon: His toughness. Not being scared of any situation. He just plays, goes all out, and honestly that's something that we need. To be that leader with that toughness, that carries over to all of us.

J.P.: He's a mismatch nightmare for teams. When bigger guys try to guard him, they can't. He's got too many moves, he's too versatile a player. He can basically score on anybody in the country. You never really know what you're going to get with him because he's an elite scorer.

(Smiles)

With some luck.

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