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COLUMBIA, Mo. 鈥� Trent Pierce鈥檚 freshman year of college was a baptism by fire.

Missouri鈥檚 highest-ranked men鈥檚 basketball recruit in six years struggled to find a role on the court. Then, he missed several weeks with an ear infection so severe that he鈥檇 find blood on his pillow after sleepless nights. And the Tigers lost 19 games in a row.

Already an introvert by nature, Trent was withdrawing into himself.

It wasn鈥檛 just frustration or a 19-year-old鈥檚 angst. Trent was profoundly lost.

鈥淭hrough high school and college,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 went through a lot of loneliness, a lot of questioning my self-worth.鈥�

So last summer, at the behest of his head coach and parents 鈥� and really, because the former called the latter about this 鈥� Trent folded himself into the back row of a van bound for Fort Collins, Colorado, for a weeklong 鈥淯ltimate Training Camp鈥� held by an organization called Athletes in Action.

He was in the van with nine other Mizzou athletes, none of whom he really knew. Not that he cared to get to know them at the time, either. He pulled his headphones over his ears and went silent.

Yet just a few weeks later, some of those athletes 鈥� along with the entire MU men鈥檚 basketball team 鈥� attended Trent鈥檚 baptism. He left the training camp reawakened, refocused, reshaped and intent on being baptized again.

This time, in water. When the 6-foot-10 forward emerged from the water of Columbia鈥檚 Hulen Lake, the change he underwent was symbolic. But it鈥檚 tangible, too.

Trent reconnected with his Christian faith, using Biblical teachings to ease the highs and lows of being a modern athlete. He became a friendlier presence inside the MU athletics department and more vocal figure in the Tigers locker room. He now holds down a spot in the basketball team鈥檚 starting lineup, too.

Trent and his family opened up to the Post-Dispatch for the first time about the vicissitudes of his freshman year and sense of peace that he has since discovered.

鈥淲hen you look back,鈥� coach Dennis Gates said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a completely different person.鈥�

鈥榁ery quiet, very introverted鈥�

When Trent moved to Columbia last summer to enroll at MU and begin his college basketball career, Gates called his parents with an unconventional request: Could they leave him at school without a car?

One of Gates鈥� first recruits, Trent arrived from the prestigious AZ Compass prep school. But the lanky kid from Tulsa, Oklahoma, with a smooth jumper for his height was reserved. Too much so, in Gates鈥� eyes. He wanted Trent to have to ask his teammates for rides, hoping that he鈥檇 be more or less forced to talk to them as they drove him around.

Gates also introduced Trent to Nathan Buxman, who runs Mizzou鈥檚 Athletes in Action chapter. The group holds weekly meetings and Bible studies, providing a faith-based outlet and support system for the athletes who want it.

Trent wasn鈥檛 really among those who wanted it.

鈥淚 always found an excuse not to go,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was tired, I didn鈥檛 have a car, didn鈥檛 have a ride, things like that. Throughout my whole freshman year, I basically did not go.鈥�

Buxman, a well-known figure among MU athletes, got a quick read on Trent: 鈥渧ery quiet, very introverted, very to himself.鈥� He noticed the freshman ate in the dining hall with headphones on.

Trent comes off as a serious person 鈥� not overbearing or intense but certainly deliberate in what he says and does. He grew up playing football before focusing on basketball, then one day presented his parents with the idea of going to prep school so he could train with some of the country鈥檚 best prospects.

鈥淗ere鈥檚 the thing about Trent, which I always give him props for,鈥� his dad, Lamar, said. 鈥淚 think a lot of people underestimate him because Trent doesn鈥檛 have the swag right off the top 鈥� he just doesn鈥檛 have that. But he鈥檚 tough.鈥�

Trent鈥檚 freshman year seemed built to test that.

鈥業 can鈥檛 take it anymore鈥�

Missouri played at Texas A&M on Jan. 23, 2024. At that point in the year, Trent鈥檚 role was fluctuating. He鈥檇 played 20 minutes in a Braggin鈥� Rights loss to Illinois, scoring a season-high 12 points. But in the first three SEC games of the season, he was on the floor for 18 total minutes, making 1 of 5 shots.

And against the Aggies, he was in the game for one minute. No shots, no rebounds, no turnovers 鈥� nothing.

Trent鈥檚 ear was bugging him. It had been infected while he was in high school, the byproduct of an illness, and since had been fine. The discomfort 鈥� a gentle word for what he was really feeling inside his skull 鈥� had come back.

He called home to Tulsa at 3 a.m. from College Station, unable to sleep because of the throbbing pain rippling outward from his inner ear.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 take it anymore,鈥� Trent鈥檚 mom, Jennette, remembers him saying.

The ear infection was back, and it was bad. Trent couldn鈥檛 play for more than a month and couldn鈥檛 travel with the team during that time. Doctors were worried that the pressure changes that come with flying could cause more serious damage to his ear.

At its worst, he went a week without sleeping more than 30 minutes at a time. Desperate, he went to an emergency room and finally fell asleep under a blanket of painkillers delivered by IV.

Trent鈥檚 ear infection required surgery so doctors could fully clean it out. Including the time it took for post-operation swelling to go down, he couldn鈥檛 hear out of one ear for about six weeks. Once he received medical clearance to resume basketball activities, he battled bouts of dizziness and fatigue 鈥� that absence was the longest Trent had gone without playing basketball since he began taking the sport seriously.

鈥淚 felt behind,鈥� he said, 鈥渏ust a step slow 鈥� like three or four steps slow.鈥�

Trent played in the final five games of the season and scored in only one of them.

He entered the offseason disillusioned and holding an offer from Buxman: Trent was invited to join Mizzou鈥檚 Athletes in Action contingent for its trip to Ultimate Training Camp in Colorado.

Gates, who鈥檇 gone to the camp when he was a college player at California, encouraged Trent to think about it. John Tonje, another MU player at the time, was going to go.

鈥淚 knew the experience that I had but also the confidence that I had when I returned to campus,鈥� Gates said. 鈥淚 knew it could help him.鈥�

Trent was unconvinced.

鈥淚 still found every excuse not to go,鈥� he said.

Tonje wasn鈥檛 going anymore because he entered the transfer portal, so Trent wouldn鈥檛 know anybody there. Jennette鈥檚 birthday was in the middle of the week of camp, and what kind of son would he be to go away to a retreat during that? The Pierces were traveling to Canada to see her side of the family and celebrate. Trent argued he should be there for that, too. Maybe if he just went for the first few days and then ...

Relaying all of this logic to his coach, he was cut off by Gates: 鈥淭rent, I鈥檓 not listening to nothing you鈥檙e saying. Stay at the camp.鈥�

Gates called Lamar and Jennette to say, in no uncertain terms, that Trent needed to be in that van.

So he climbed into the back row that had a little more legroom and adopted a reproachful mood toward the other athletes on the trip.

鈥淭hey were trying to play games and stuff, car-ride games,鈥� Trent said. 鈥淚 said one or two things and then let them do it. I just wasn鈥檛 a part of any of it.鈥�

鈥楽omething more stable than this鈥�

Trent wasn鈥檛 much of a churchgoer, for many of the same reasons he鈥檇 hardly materialized at any Athletes in Action gatherings before the retreat.

鈥淚 mean, I鈥檇 always been to church, growing up, and liked it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think I always went more for my parents 鈥� they always made me go, so I never really went from my desire, I guess.鈥�

Lamar and Jennette raised their kids as Christians, taking them to church and having them baptized. But they accepted that there could be a time when the kids would, in some way or another, drift away from faith as they built their own lives.

鈥淭here comes a moment when you become an adult that at some point, something shifts,鈥� Jennette said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not necessarily saying it鈥檚 a recommitment or something significant like that, but something shifts to where it becomes your faith 鈥� your personal faith 鈥� as opposed to, well, I just believe what my parents believe.鈥�

That came for Trent at Ultimate Training Camp. The details of what exactly happens there each summer are kept relatively private. There are some classes and talks for athletes on religious concepts, plus typical retreat activities such as volleyball games. Key to the week is a physical endurance test that lasts for 20 hours.

Buxman noticed Trent鈥檚 guard start to evaporate as the days in Colorado went by, particularly in the volleyball games.

鈥淎ll of a sudden, you start to see him high-fiving people that are on his team,鈥� Buxman said.

On the last night of the camp, with music playing, Trent felt something click. The thought of being baptized again crossed his mind.

鈥淚 had this, like, little tightening in my chest,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t got so tight to where it almost hurt.鈥�

He dismissed it because he鈥檇 been baptized as a kid, thought about it more, then resolved to go through with it 鈥� no excuses involved. He told a camp leader about what he was feeling, and a few days later, his parents.

鈥淚 felt all this pressure just leave me,鈥� Trent said. 鈥淚n that moment, I just felt peace.鈥�

Columbia鈥檚 Hulen Lake is encircled by sloping lawns, giving it a secluded feel. The 18-acre body of water sits about 2 miles west from Mizzou Arena as the crow flies. There鈥檚 a picnic shelter, four swings, a cozy beach, a small pier and kayaks. A couple hundred feet out from shore, a tiny island holds a few scraggly trees.

At sunset one day last June, Trent was baptized there. He thinks 50 or 60 people were there when he talked aloud and publicly about finding his faith again 鈥� 鈥渢he most people I鈥檝e ever spoken in front of,鈥� he said.

Lamar and Jennette were there, as was the Missouri men鈥檚 basketball team: coaches, returning players, new freshmen, incoming transfers.

Being surrounded by 鈥� embraced by, really 鈥� that many people was something different for Trent. His loneliness and questions of self-worth had left him grappling with what his identity should be, too.

This is the struggle for athletes at the moment. Recruiting services begin ranking and rating them when they鈥檙e barely in high school. College offers and, increasingly, name, image and likeness (NIL) deals give them a very clear sense of what they are or aren鈥檛 worth. Fans on social media hardly mince words in their commentary.

鈥淲e spend most of our time talking identity,鈥� Buxman said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not the place you want to go for your identity. You quickly realize: 鈥業 need something more stable than this.鈥欌��

Now, for Trent, that鈥檚 where faith comes in.

For example: He grapples with the psychology of being benched, which happened recently after rough starts against Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

So when he goes to the bench, he has a visual cue to keep his thoughts on track: a piece of Scripture Lamar first showed Trent as a kid. Buxman brought it back up to Trent after a recent practice.

Directly across from the Missouri bench inside Mizzou Arena is Section 107. Even with fans filling the black seats, the number is visible on the concrete wall atop the section. That number corresponds, in Trent鈥檚 mind, to the seventh verse of the first chapter of the New Testament鈥檚 second letter to Timothy 鈥� 2 Timothy 1:07.

鈥淔or the spirit God gave us does not make us timid,鈥� the verse reads, 鈥渂ut gives us power, love and self-discipline.鈥�

Trent has it memorized. After talking with the Post-Dispatch for an interview, he asked for the verse to be included with his story.

鈥淚 never really, I鈥檇 say, put it into my life until it needed to be,鈥� Trent said.

And his life is different now. Coaches praise his newfound resilience and leadership.

鈥淭hat reinvented who he was and the confidence he had,鈥� Gates said, 鈥渘ot just in himself but in the new environment that he was in. His relationship with his teammates changed.鈥�

When Lamar and Jennette called Trent recently, he鈥檇 picked up food from a restaurant but was heading to the dining hall so he could eat 鈥� headphones-free 鈥� with some people he knew would be there. Through the phone, they could hear people greeting him.

That鈥檚 what has changed for Trent. He understands the world around him to be a lot warmer than a trying freshman year made it seem.

Ask Trent his biggest takeaways from his week in Colorado, and he鈥檒l share these two:

鈥淧eople do care about me.鈥�

And:

鈥淚 do have meaning.鈥�