Troy’s Jervis starting to fill out height

TROY — Tom Jervis is finally starting to play like his height dictates.

The senior from Perth, Australia, Troy’s tallest player ever at 7-feet tall, struggled in his transition season from junior college last year as he battled through calf and ankle injuries, couldn’t get any foul calls and couldn’t get in shape.

A summer of working out with the football team helped him bulk up to 250 pounds and helped his conditioning.

“He could only run up and down the court (last year) a couple of times and heck, he was exhausted,” Troy head coach Don Maestri said. “Now, it’s unbelievable, he’s in much better shape and his confidence is up.”

That’s the most important thing for Jervis — confidence. He set a school record for blocks in a game with nine against Ole Miss, but he averaged just five points and 4.1 rebounds a game and rarely dominated like a 7-footer should.

So, coaches and teammates finally got through to him to use his authority and dunk — all the time.

“A lot of times he wouldn’t finish strong around the basket,” point guard Michael Vogler said. “This year, he’s trying to dunk everything.

“I think that’s going to be a key asset to the team this year.”

Jervis and the Trojans open this season Saturday at home against UAB at 2 p.m. Prior to last year’s opener at Alabama, Jervis battled an ankle sprain which kept him out for three weeks, then a calf injury, which he had to play through because starting center Jarvis Acker was academically ineligible for the first few games.

When he’d go up for shots and couldn’t go through the contact, referees usually didn’t blow a whistle.

Maybe he wasn’t going up hard enough. That’s changed this year.

“It got pretty frustrating,” Jervis said. “Coach is just trying to make me play through everything. They’re not giving me many fouls in practice. Practice is all-out, and I’m used to it and I’m feeling better.”

Coaches aren’t expecting a double-double every game, but they do need 15-20 solid minutes, better rebounding and a high free throw percentage. He hit 69 percent last year.

“I’ll be stunned if he doesn’t get more fouls called because of the way he’s going up to the glass,” Maestri said. “He’s going up hard.

“He’s not what you consider a natural-scoring inside player, but because of his height and aggressiveness, he’s going to get plenty of chances.”

Jervis signed with Troy after two years at Bevill-Fayette.

He’s slowly but surely getting used to the Alabama culture, even though it is much different than Australia.

So far, his parents are noticing. He’s not sure they’ll get to see him play, but he said he hopes they can come to his graduation.

“I love it here,” Jervis said. “My mom keeps telling me that my voice has changed, so I’ve got a bit of an accent.”

And the Trojans are hoping his game has changed.

“We need a true 7-footer, and I think we’ve got that this year,” Vogler said.