The invincible (SAIT) Trojan horse
Zafir Nagji, Sports Editor
When it comes to collegiate athletics in Canada, it’s easy to get caught up in the glitz and glam of U SPORTS competition. Prestigious national rankings, a track record as a path to professional sports and a slew of hallmark names make U SPORTS impossible to ignore, and rightfully so.
However, one team in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is making waves with its undefeated record, elite-level talent and jaw-dropping statistical output. Meet the only undefeated college basketball team in the country — Calgary’s own Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Trojans.
Back, better and wanting it badder than ever
After being eliminated in the first round of last year’s playoffs by their provincial archrivals, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks, the Trojans have put together virtuoso after virtuoso on their revenge tour this season, raising the curved roof of their temporary home arena — one the school lovingly calls “The Bubble.”
High-flying forward Killian Yopa, who played his rookie collegiate season as an MRU Cougar two years ago, is known to raise the volume on the court with his physics-defying slam dunks, and so has a positive impression of his team’s temporary home gym.
“It’s a big white tent, you go inside, there’s a basketball court and some weights on the side, and that’s it,” Yopa says. “I love that place though… it gets very loud… it’s fun to play in there. It’s small, but there’s a lot of people.”
However, the joy in their gym doesn’t erase the memory of their first-round loss last year. In fact, that loss has elevated the team’s mentality, and even their coach is taking inspiration from one of NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s most famous quotes. The team understands that regular-season wins pale in importance compared to playoff victories, so their focus is fixated solely on the end-goal of winning a national championship.
“[Coach Daly] reminds us every single day that we haven’t done anything, the job isn’t finished,” Yopa said after the team’s 16th consecutive win. “At the end of the day, being 16-0 doesn’t matter if we go to the playoffs and lose the first game, you know, it’s still going to be the same pain.”
Supersonic sixth man Steve Adjuya also sees this season as a chance for redemption, but from a more personal perspective. Adjuya suffered a hand injury early into his first season with the team last year, forcing him to watch his Trojans lose from the sideline. This year, the undersized point guard has put up a career-high 4.8 points per game off the bench, seeing the court for just under 20 minutes per game and leading the team’s second unit.
Generally appearing on the court to replace the team’s most effective scorer, Marcus Masters, or sharing the court with him for short stints, Adjuya knows he won’t perfectly replace Masters’s mastery of the game, but he brings his own mental and physical edge to the hardwood.
“A player like that, I can’t really replace and bring a game just like his, but I definitely will always bring my hustle mentality,” Adjuya says. “Just being a dog out there, just never rolling over and giving up… I stick to my strengths, not trying to do stuff that I know that is not my game on the court.”
Soaring, flying and reaching for the stars
In the words of legendary Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z, “men lie, women lie, numbers don’t,” and the shift in mentality the Trojans underwent has produced tangible results on the stat sheet.
By the numbers, the SAIT Trojans have the most efficient offence and least forgiving defence in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC), scoring over 1.1 points per possession and conceding less than 0.8 points per possession to give themselves an ACAC-best net efficiency rating of +0.333.
However, SAIT has the worst three-point shooting percentage in the entire conference. At just 25.9 per cent from behind the arc, the Trojans take advantage of their roster’s incredible athleticism and punish teams in the paint, relying on occasional trifectas from their designated snipers and from their all-around offensive assassin, Masters..
Scoring 19.6 points per game, Masters is putting together an MVP-level season in his final year of varsity eligibility. He holds the best three-point shooting percentage of any player in the ACAC at 44 per cent, despite getting many of his behind-the-arc attempts off the dribble or under the duress of the shot-clock winding down.
Having missed most of the 2024-25 season due to injuries, Masters tapped into his psychotic work ethic to return to the court this season. Averaging over 18 points per game every year of his collegiate career, Masters is a well-known scoring machine, but his teammates are most inspired by his work ethic and have channelled throughout their incredible 2025-26 campaign.
“Coming in my first year in 2023, Marcus was in his third year, so he was like a vet to me,” Adjuya says. “I learned lots of stuff from him off the court as well as on the court, just paving the way, just showing me since he is an undersized guard too… playing with him every day has definitely improved and impacted my game in a positive way.”
Despite playing a different position, Yopa draws his own inspiration from Masters and isn’t surprised at how well the fifth-year veteran is performing this season.
“Watching him play motivates you to just even play harder, like he’s always going to play hard,” Yopa says. “It really shows that hard work is what it takes… when you see somebody work as hard [as Masters does], it makes sense that he’s going to translate in game. So, I’m not really surprised or anything, I think it’s just the result of hard work.”
Breaking glass backboards
Put all of those ingredients together, and the Trojans’ average margin-of-victory of +29.75 points per game suddenly makes complete sense. The team is mentally tough, physically dominant and emotionally united, determined to erase the tragedies of last year and replace them with championship silverware in 2026.
However, their sights are set on something much bigger than on-court victories. In fact, the Trojans want the smoke with the best collegiate crews in the country, as well as the love those crews receive in their home cities.
Before the CCAA and U SPORTS basketball seasons tipped off, teams from both leagues competed against each other in a series of exhibition games, including some between the MRU Cougars and SAIT Trojans. Some of those games were closer than most expected, and in some cases, the underdogs came out on top, introducing more crowds to the talent level in their league.
“I’m seeing ACAC teams going up against U SPORTS teams, and they’re competing and beating these squads,” Adjuya says. “Why not? Why can’t we be as big as MRU and [University of] Calgary or even bigger than that, where we’re getting coverage, and we’re being seen from all around Canada, or even in other countries.”
That being said, Yopa knows the immediate task in front of the Trojans is to win ACAC and CCAA championships, and he feels those results will speak for themselves in their bigger-picture aspirations.
“As long as we keep doing what we’re supposed to do, eventually it will happen,” Yopa says. “But until then, all we can do is just control our part, show up, win games, and then maybe in a couple years like you’ll see ACAC teams on TV. For now, I think it’s more it’s more important that we just focus on what we can control and then the rest will figure itself out in the future.”
The SAIT Trojans have just four games left on their schedule, and with each win, the target on their back will continue to grow larger. They’ll visit Briercrest College, who rank 14th nationally, in Caronport, Sask., for a two-game road series on Valentine’s weekend. They’ll end their season with two games against Olds College the following week, with the first game set to take place in Olds and the second under the curved white roof of the SAIT Bubble. Home games are free for all to attend, and all games are available to watch with a subscription to ACAC TV.
