As Kel’el Ware walked back into the IU locker room on Tuesday evening, game ball in hand, he fist-bumped everyone along the way back to his seat.
Ware had just made 11 shots (on 12 attempts), and more than half of them (six) were assisted by Trey Galloway. The 7-footer knew Galloway played a major role in his 27-point performance in a 74-70 win over Wisconsin — an effort that probably moved Ware up NBA Draft boards.
Before he sat down, Ware and Galloway connected one more time in the locker room with an embrace.
Ware and Galloway had never played together before this summer, and they didn’t prepare for the season as point guard and center duo. But Xavier Johnson’s injury-riddled season has led to chemistry for the unlikely pair.
“We’re always on the same team in practice, so that helps when it comes to the game, just building that chemistry and learning each other and where to pass it and how to pass it and getting the ball to the right spot,” Ware said after his massive performance against the Badgers.
Galloway’s six assists to Ware were just half of his 12 on Tuesday evening. 12 assists in a game is good for a tie for the 10th best single-game performance in IU basketball history. And it was the second time in just 10 days Galloway had reached that mark.
Playing high school basketball for his father Mark at Culver Academies, Galloway never played point guard until his senior season. And he wasn’t recruited to Indiana to play the point either. Instead, that would be the role of Rob Phinisee, Khristian Lander, Xavier Johnson and Gabe Cupps.
But a wave of injuries and transfers has necessitated that the ball be placed in Galloway’s hands more and more over the course of his career.
And in his senior year at Indiana, Galloway has looked the part of a true floor general.
The 6-foot-5 Galloway is averaging 4.6 assists per game this season for Indiana. Over his last 17 contests, that number swells to 5.8. His previous career-high assist average for a season was 2.1 a year ago.
And Galloway is facilitating the offense while doing a reasonably good job of taking care of the basketball. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 2.2.
Galloway has moved up to fifth in the Big Ten with 5.3 assists per contest in league games.
And now the guy who has never been thought of as a point guard is putting his name in the IU record book.
As mentioned, those two 12 assist games are tied for tenth best all-time. He’s the first to do it twice since someone you may know — Isiah Thomas.
With 22 more assists this season, Galloway could hit 150 and join a tie for the 14th-best single-season in program history along with Michael Lewis and Quinn Buckner. With 17 more, he can record the highest assist total in program history for a season in conference games. He’s already recorded the 10th best season in that regard.
You know you’re playing well when you produce a 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘩 stat. 🤯@IndianaMBB‘s Trey Galloway is doing just that.
Sports Science Stat x @ifs pic.twitter.com/UMH78dHIqm
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 28, 2024
With Johnson’s injuries and players like Jalen Hood-Schifino, Armaan Franklin, Al Durham and Parker Stewart all moving on over the course of his career, Galloway has become the undisputed top backcourt option this season when it comes to just about everything. That transition hasn’t always been seamless for Galloway, but with his big games as a facilitator, or massive scoring outbursts vs. Kansas (28) and at Ohio State (25), there’s no doubting the potential.
“Just having my teammates trust me, and the coaches putting the trust in me to have the ball in my hands, that’s that’s been a big-time thing,” Galloway said. “Coach Woodson has really gained trust to have the ball in my hands and to make plays for my teammates and for myself so I think biggest challenge was just kind of knowing when to to do certain things and when to take certain shots, but I think that’s gone pretty well.”
Galloway leads IU in minutes, and he’s been able to do that because he has improved as a defender. His 2.5 fouls per 40 minutes represents the 21st best average in the Big Ten. And he isn’t just playing more this season, his per-40 minute numbers are up when it comes to shots, points and assists. So there’s little doubt he’s making a conscious effort to put his stamp on the game. And Galloway has produced a career high 57.1 percent from 2-point range this season.
There was little doubt there would be a drop-off from his 46.2 percent effort from 3-point range a year ago as he transitioned from mostly just catching passes out of the post from Trayce Jackson-Davis, to now shooting much more off the dribble.
With a year of eligibility remaining, that’s the one area Galloway will have to develop, as he’s fallen to 26 percent from three this season on a career-high four attempts per game. Many of his attempts are coming when opposing guards go under screens and dare him to shoot. That dynamic makes it more difficult for him to get downhill and find teammates or shoot his high-percentage twos.
Last year marked a significant improvement in making catch-and-shoot threes. This year Galloway has made massive strides as a facilitator and defender. If he expands his three-point shooting repertoire, Galloway is probably in the conversation for first-team All-Big Ten next season.
The coaching staff believes in his potential.
“We got a lot of trust in Galloway. No doubt about that. He’s played probably some of the most minutes of anybody on our team this year,” IU coach Mike Woodson said Tuesday evening. “So we trust when the ball is in his hands he can make basketball plays.”
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