That’s nothing new for Trice, though. Hailing from Huber Heights, Ohio — about 20 minutes outside of Dayton — Trice typically was the smallest player out there.

So, with the help of his dad and high school coach Travis Trice Sr., Trice adapted at a young age.

“No. 1, I knew he had to be smarter,” Trice Sr. said. “He had to be able to be in a situation where he could out-think his opponent because he wasn’t bigger or faster.”

Trice Sr. also said he knew his son had to develop the dribbling, passing and shooting ability needed to beat a bigger player. The two spent countless hours in the gym working on Trice’s skills and just as much time talking basketball to develop the smarts.

And now, after all the shots and drills and all the discussions on the drive to and from practice, Trice’s hard work is paying off.

Despite being told he was too small, too slow or too weak for so long, Trice finds himself proving all the doubters wrong and doing what he and those close to him knew he could do all along.

“This is what you dream of as a kid,” Trice said of playing for a top-10 program in MSU. “When you’re sitting there — 5, 6 years old — watching people play on TV, that’s what you want to do. And I’m living it right now.”

Coach’s kid
MSU head coach Tom Izzo found Trice while recruiting his AAU teammate for the SYF Players, Branden Dawson.

Trice had an offer from Dayton after his freshman year of high school, but he said it wasn’t until he had a breakout summer on the AAU circuit after his junior year that big schools came calling. Dawson, on the other hand, was a five-star recruit everybody wanted.

But after seeing Trice hit daggers from the 3-point line and feed perfect passes to Dawson — also now a freshman guard at MSU — Izzo thought Trice could help the Spartans too. He was completely sold when he realized his dad also was his AAU coach through eighth grade and at Wayne High School.

“That was a (former MSU head coach Jud) Heathcote rule,” Izzo said earlier this season. “Try to get coaches’ kids because he has a good understanding of the game.”

Once Trice came to East Lansing, he said being a coach’s kid gave him a leg up on other freshmen. Having grown up listening to and learning from his dad, who played two years of college basketball at both Purdue and Butler, Trice has a better idea of what is going through Izzo’s head.

“I’ll remember something (Trice Sr.) has told me, and then I’ll do it here,” Trice said. “And (Izzo) will be like, ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ or I’ll say something, and he’ll be like, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’

“It just really helps your relationship with a head coach.”

Trice also said his dad and assistant coaches at Wayne, where he averaged 23.5 points and 6.5 assists his senior year on the way to being named 2011 Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year, were hard on him, much like Izzo. But having dealt with the same expectations and demands for most of his life, he said the adjustment has been easy.

Plus, it helps he still can go to his dad, who Trice said he calls almost every day. And although those talks sometimes revolve around what he did right and wrong on the court, Trice Sr. said his role has evolved since his son came to college.

“Our relationship is more about being support for him right now, even if that’s not always telling him what he wants to hear,” Trice Sr. said. “I tell him, ‘You have to make sure you don’t lose yourself and who you are and the confidence in yourself.’”

Leader in waiting
Although Trice is sitting back in his back-up role while senior forward Draymond Green and sophomore guard Keith Appling lead the Spartans this year, Trice Sr. said his son is a natural leader. As the oldest of five brothers and sisters, Trice has been looked up to much of his life, especially now that his little brother D’mitrik is in a familiar situation as a freshman playing on the varsity basketball team at Wayne.

“Travis has always had a lot riding on his own shoulders,” Trice Sr. said. “We’ve always talked about leading the trail and the different types of responsibilities on his shoulders. He knows that. He realizes that.”

Averaging 5.6 points and a shade over two assists in 18.8 minutes per game this season, Trice has had the ups and downs expected from a freshman. And just like his dad used to, Izzo has demanded more from Trice all season.

It doesn’t bother Trice, though. Instead, he admits when he doesn’t play well. And when he does something worthy of praise, Trice brushes it off and says he still needs to get better.

“That’s the type of kid he is,” Trice Sr. said. “I look for a whole lot better things from him in the future, and I know he’s going to make Spartan Nation proud.”