Divens stars by putting his team first

There is more to Carnegie Mellon's Michael Divens than his impressive career points total.

The 2001 Penn-Trafford graduate became the 15th men's basketball player in CMU history to surpass 1,000 points Sunday, when he scored a season-high 22 in an 86-69 win over Brandeis.

The career points number is noteworthy. But, to understand Divens, you need to know about a preseason conversation he and coach Tony Wingen had.

"I told him he was going to get his 1,000th point with a mediocre year. We wanted him to think about improving his floor game," Wingen recalled. "We wanted him to increase his rebounds, his assists, his defense. He's really embraced that. That's one of the reasons we're having such a good season so far."

The Tartans are 11-2 overall and lead the University Athletic Association at 3-0. Divens left that Brandeis game not only with 1,004 career points, but with 43 assists for the season. He's second on the team in rebounding at 7.4 a game and third in scoring at 13.9 points a game. The 6-foot-2 senior guard has scored in double figures in 10 of 12 games, including the past nine.

Divens is relishing his diversified input into CMU's success.

"This is more like what I did at Penn-Trafford," Divens said. "My junior year here, they needed me to be a pure scorer. That's the first time I was ever asked to do that.

"I've never been the main guy on any team I've played for. In high school, I was the secondary option and I liked being that guy who got other people baskets. I like the feeling of making a good pass and getting rebounds. My dad never stressed individuality. His thinking was do what you can do to get the team recognized and you will get recognized."

It's been a decade since the Tartans have experienced this successful a start to a season, and Divens' role in it has not been overlooked.

Earlier, he was named UAA basketball player of the week after recording back-to-back double-doubles -- 15 points and 13 rebounds against Skidmore and 20 points and 11 rebounds against Union, both CMU victories.

"He's one of those guys who just knows how to score," Wingen said. "But he's also doing a lot of other things for us. That's the trick."

Divens hit the 1,000-point plateau with a jumper at 10:27 of the second half Sunday at Brandeis.

"I knew at halftime I was close. A couple of kids had told me," Divens said. "When it happened, there was a time-out for a foul and they announced it. It felt good. I didn't think I'd feel that excited, but I did. It was exciting and satisfying."

The chemical engineering major already has a job lined up for after the semester. But, first, there is the matter of continuing a successful season.

"We expect to make the NCAA (Division III) tournament," Divens said. "We've made it once in our history. But we've already beaten Rochester and New York University, the two teams picked to win our conference, so anything less than the NCAA tournament would be a huge disappointment."