Everybody has his own path.
But Trayvond Massenburg’s journey has been quite different than those of most of his new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga teammates.
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Philadelphia native’s road to being a member of the basketball Mocs started in a 2004 Nissan Maxima in late August. He had packed up the car with the intention of driving south and deciding between UTC and Southern University as his future home.
His first stop was in Chattanooga. When he arrived in town after a two-day, 800-mile trip that spanned 12 hours, he was greeted by members of the team, even offered a place to sleep by seniors Greg Pryor and Tre’ McLean.
He said the pair offered him a place to sleep, food to eat – anything he needed until he could get situated in town.
Massenburg never made it to Southern, as he chose the Mocs on the spot. And his team has an exhibition tonight at 7 against Covenant College at McKenzie Arena.
“When they said the whole team was like a family, they really meant it,” Massenburg said recently. “Like a lot of people say it, but I can go in there and say that those really are my brothers.
“They didn’t know me at all – I talked to Tre’ for like 10 minutes – and I was staying with them. That’s big. It really didn’t make sense to me, to be honest with you, but from that I knew this was the place for me.
“I can’t even explain it; even when I was talking to my mom about it, she was like, ‘Huh? They don’t know you.’ Everybody was confused, because I was staying with two people I didn’t even know and they actually invited me in. It’s just different; it’s not no Southern, Eastern, none of that. It’s just them. They’re good people. Everybody on the team is a good person, and everybody cares about each other.”
Massenburg averaged 5.6 points and 5.5 rebounds as a sophomore at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa, after a freshman season in which he averaged 6.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks at Miami-Dade College.
“I’ve been impressed with his ability to learn this fall,” UTC coach Matt McCall said. “A lot has been thrown at him that he’s handled; he’s tried to push himself to where he’s physically in shape because he was behind everyone else, especially with missing this summer.
“He’s made some strides here.”
The junior forward’s role has been that of a relentless rebounder and player capable of scoring some in the paint. He may not have any 20-point, 10-rebound performances, but he is a player willing to do whatever necessary for the team to win.
“My biggest role is to make the people around me better,” he said. “It’s just a blessing to be here. I don’t have any individual hopes, dreams; I don’t have anything. I don’t have an individual goal, because it’s not about me no more, and I understood that when I got here.
“It’s all about us. We want another championship, and we’re working for that every day and working to go back to the tournament. How far we get depends on us.”
Which is easy for him to say. He’s already been a long way and learned what “us” really can mean.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfree press.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.