Trey Galloway's Continued Development Vital to New-Look Hoosiers' Success
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana has a scholarship open, and with offseason workouts in full swing, the likelihood that Indiana enters the 2023-24 season with 12 scholarship players increases with every passing day.
Coach Mike Woodson did well to replenish a roster that lost four starters, bringing in the nation's 9th-ranked overall class, but one area of concern stands out in particular – 3-point shooting.
Indiana lost 77 percent of its 3-point production from last season, including its three most frequent and productive long-range shooters in Miller Kopp, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Tamar Bates. Indiana was in the mix for a few shooting guards in the transfer portal, but it never came to fruition.
As a result, Indiana will likely enter the season with Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway as its only established 3-point shooters at the college level, and neither have done so with high volume. Johnson's most made 3-pointers came as a freshman at Pittsburgh in 2018-19 when he made 37, and he shot a career-best 38.3 percent at Indiana in 2021-22 on 2.8 attempts per game. Galloway made a huge leap in 3-point shooting efficiency last year, but he made just 30 threes in 32 games.
For reference, Kopp led the Hoosiers with 63 threes as the team's third-leading scorer last year, and each of the Big Ten's top-15 3-point shooters made at least 60. Johnson and Galloway would have to roughly double their 3-point output to reach what was the conference's top-15 benchmark a year ago.
So as Indiana approaches a new season with six new players – and most notably without do-everything big man Trayce Jackson-Davis – Galloway's continued development is vital to the new-look Hoosiers' success in Woodson's third year.
Galloway said Thursday in his first press conference since March that the coaches want him to step up in every aspect.
"I'm a senior now," Galloway said. "And I've been here the longest with this coaching staff. I know what it takes. So I just think my leadership, leading on the court and off the court, then obviously expanding my game on the court, as well, just offensively and defensively. I'm a veteran now, so I need to know every spot and know where to be on offense and defense."
Indiana Hoosiers guard Trey Galloway (32) reacts after a play against the Miami (Fl) Hurricanes during the first half at MVP Arena.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Galloway has shown as well as anyone that he's capable of making offseason strides. After shooting 18.2 percent from three as a freshman and 21.4 percent as a sophomore, he improved to a 46.2 percent 3-point shooter during his junior season. Galloway said assistant coach Brian Walsh and Jordan Hulls, Indiana's team and recruiting coordinator, took time to truly help his shooting stroke by creating game-like reps in practice and emphasizing a higher arc in his shot. The next step is increasing his volume.
Indiana returns just 25.3 percent of its scoring from last season, so Galloway knows that he'll have to contribute more on the offensive end. After averaging 6.7 points last season, he's been working on expanding his offensive game this summer, and that starts with breaking down the game off the court.
"I think just watching film and growing my knowledge of the game and seeing different things I can do to create more offense for us," Galloway said. "I think film really helps, and I think just seeing that and knowing what I can do to kind of expand my game will be big, and then going out there and replicating it in my workouts and doing different things. I think I've done a good job with that so far this summer. And I think just also just being able to work on different things on the court or playing as well as just kind of trusting myself to make those plays. I think the coaches have done a good job of putting me in positions to expand my game."
Indiana won't have the luxury of dumping the ball into Jackson-Davis for easy buckets, which will come with an adjustment period. Galloway isn't the only one who'll need to become a bigger scoring threat, and Woodson added a few newcomers who could help with that, despite their lack of college or Big Ten experience.
Indiana brings in the Big Ten's top-ranked freshman, Mackenzie Mgbako, who can score all over the floor at 6-foot-8. Oregon transfer Kel'el Ware was a McDonald's All-American out of high school, and can stretch the floor at 7-feet tall. Both are projected first-round picks in next year's NBA Draft. Freshman Gabe Cupps had a strong 3-point shooting reputation in high school, as did CJ Gunn, who could be in line for more minutes in the back court.
"It's hard when you lose a guy like Trayce," Galloway said. "Because he just gave us so much on the offensive end and defensive end late in the games. We knew, everyone knew, where the ball was going late in the games. It was going to him. So it's definitely hard to replace that, but we've got guys that have really been working on their games this offseason and I'm really kind of just proud and I'm happy to see the new guys come in and really step up. We've got a lot of guys that can do a lot of things top to bottom, so I think we're all just ready to go. I think when the opportunity presents itself, we're going to have guys step up when it's time."
Despite Indiana's significant roster turnover, Galloway, who started 25 games and averaged 27.7 minutes, doesn't expect his overall role to change too much. He wants to continue to do the "little things" he's become known for, especially on the defensive end.
"I want to guard the best players on the other team," Galloway said. "I want that assignment every night. So I think just keeping that and being willing to guard whoever it is every night, that's one thing I like to do. I take pride in that.
And with veteran leaders like Jackson-Davis, Kopp and Race Thompson gone, Galloway's voice has become stronger in the locker room. Galloway said he learned from the leadership examples set by Kopp and others, and he hopes to serve a similar purpose for the Hoosiers next season.
"I think just trusting myself to talk to my teammates, because they need it," Galloway said. "We're a young team this year. We've got a lot of guys that are willing to listen and want to win, so I'm really excited about that."
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