Indiana Basketball: Where does Trey Galloway fit in this season?

Where does Trey Galloway fit this season for the Indiana Basketball team?

Trey played some solid basketball at times in his freshman season. In fact, he played well enough as a freshman to earn himself 7 starts. Granted, he probably owes some of the credit for those starts to Armaan Franklin’s injuries, but nevertheless, when Archie needed someone to step into the starting lineup, Trey got the call. That speaks well of him.

"We are probably all hoping that Trey has had a great summer and he comes into the new season much improved. From the tidbits we heard from Coach Woodson last week, he seemed to imply that is the case."

Last season, Trey averaged just under 20 minutes a game (19.6), scored 3.6 points per game, grabbed 1.9 rebounds, dished out 1.3 assists, and hit 41.7% of his field goals. We won’t talk about the absolutely frigid percentage he shot from behind the arc. Let’s just say if it was an age, he would barely have been able to vote. Frostbite frigid.

The reality is, the odds are Trey will never be a high percentage three-point shooter. He never has been.

His best season as a three-point shooter in high school was during his sophomore season, when he hit 48 of his 133 attempts, for 36%. That was a mark he would not come close to reaching in his final two high school seasons, shooting 27% as a junior, and 23% as a senior.

Trey does a lot of good things on the basketball court, but hitting threes at a high percentage has not been one of them. Can he improve? Sure, he can. And I hope he does. But it’s a long way up to good from where he was last season.

That’s okay though. Trey can certainly help this team without being a great shooter. Indiana has had lots of players, even perimeter players, over the years that weren’t good shooters but still helped Indiana win ball games.

Trey can help Indiana by continuing to grow as an individual and team defender. He can focus on rebounding more. He can be an energy guy, a glue guy. He can be a great teammate. All of those things can help Indiana win basketball games.

That is how I see Trey right now, as a glue guy. A guy that comes into the game in spots and gives 100% all-out effort while he is in there, doing whatever he can to help Indiana win. Get deflections. Get a steal. Cause a tie-up. Grab an offensive rebound. Set good screens. And if he gets an open look, he needs to shoot it with confidence.

Every good team has players like that. Guys that might not get all that much press, but are invaluable.

One thing about Indiana fans is, they know basketball well enough to recognize and appreciate a player who does the little things to help his team win, and they appreciate it.

AJ Moye was never an All-Big Ten caliber player at IU, but he is one of the most beloved players in Indiana’s rich history. Why? Because he was a guy that gave everything he had, despite being, essentially, a 6-2 post player.

Now, I am not comparing Trey Galloway and AJ Moye. They are two completely different types of players, with totally different personalities. What I am saying is, Trey Galloway has an opportunity to be that kind of player for this Indiana team. In fact, when I look up and down the roster, he seems like the best candidate to be that guy. I’m not sure who else is going to fill that role if Galloway doesn’t.

Indiana Hoosiers Basketball

As we look ahead toward the beginning of the season, Indiana fans like to try to predict how many minutes a guy will play, and how many points he will score a game; they want to know what percentage he will shoot from the three-point line?

I usually don’t even attempt that kind of stuff. None of us has a crystal ball.

I will say this though, Trey Galloway could average 5.0 points a game, 3.0 rebounds, grab a steal a game, and lead the team in floor burns and have had a very successful season.

That is not just me intentionally setting the bar low for Trey. I really do think his stats may not be reflective of his value to Indiana this season.

On this team, that appears to have multiple scoring threats, I cannot see Trey Galloway being asked to score. His points are probably going to come from opportunistic baskets. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I just think it means Indiana has gotten better and added more talent.

If Trey embraces the role he is given this season and continues to grow as a basketball player, he could have a bigger role for Indiana down the road. He needs to play the long game.

So far, all indications are that Trey just wants to be part of a winning team at Indiana. When other player’s names were going into the transfer portal after Archie Miller’s firing, Trey’s wasn’t one of them. He remained 100% committed to the Hoosiers, telling Tipton Edits, “I’m staying and I believe in IU basketball and I trust in everything that is going to happen in the future.”

As I said before, it’s hard not to root for this guy. In my mind, there is always a place on Indiana’s roster for a player like that. He will find a way to fit.