The Point Guard(?).
For a whole slew of reasons, Trey Galloway was already an Indiana fan favorite. He’s from the state. He defends his ass off. He’s stuck around through some brutal seasons.
As a senior, he gave them even more reasons to love him. He turned himself into a point guard after Xavier Johnson, the only other experienced ball handler on the team, went down with another injury.
Despite having played shooting guard for the first three seasons of his career, he became the initiator Indiana needed, averaging 4.6 assists per game with a whopping 25.6% assist rate. In Big Ten play, he averaged 5.3 assists per game.
Three times last season, Galloway had over 10 assists in a game. All of these games came against Big Ten competition down the stretch of the season, when Indiana was fighting to save its season from becoming a total disaster.
Galloway also took a big jump as a scorer this season, going from 6.7 points per game as a junior to 10.6 per contest as a senior. He struggled with consistency, but it’s worth noting that he also had a few monster games of 25 points against Ohio State or 28 points against Kansas.
Entering this season, I don’t think I would have expected Trey to be a guy that could go get 25 in a close game against a high-major opponent. His career-high entering the year was a 20 piece he put up in a blowout against Nebraska in 2022-23.
Even more impressive about Galloway’s emergence as a real scoring threat was that he did so on much worse shooting numbers than he posted as a junior. His impressive 46.2% in 22-23 dropped to 26% this past season, closer to his career average of 30%.
His 3-point shooting would be a bigger question mark for Indiana entering this upcoming season had Mike Woodson and company not added a lot of shooting and playmaking around him. Galloway’s value to the team is now a lot less dependent on his ability to get to his junior year shooting form.
Galloway’s newfound ability to run the point gives Woodson infinitely more flexibility in using small ball lineups than we saw last year. He should be able to play alongside any and all guards on the roster at either position, from the bench or starting lineup.
Gabe Cupps can now develop at his own pace. Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle can be pulled if they hit a sophomore slump. Or Gallo can be slotted in besides those two for an offense that features three initiators.
Perhaps most significantly, the roster construction will also allow Galloway to specialize more in his real strength – defense. Guards alongside him will not have to lock down the opposing team’s best guard.
Overall, the leaps Galloway took last season have made him the ideal bench guard, and somebody who should be on early watch lists for Big Ten sixth man of the year should he in fact assume a reserve role.