Season in review: Trey Galloway

Indiana guard Trey Galloway’s sophomore season was upended almost as soon as it started, as he was on the wrong end of a Flagrant 2 foul early in the Hoosiers’ third game of the season against St. John’s, which forced him to leave the game and miss the next 10 due to a wrist injury. A groin injury later sidelined him for the team’s final five regular-season games, leaving him with just 20 appearances in the 2022 campaign, which was five fewer than in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.

Galloway, best known for his energy off the bench, slashing and finishing in transition, ranked sixth on the team in minutes (20.8 per game), points (5.5) and starts (three). Without a consistent jumper, he’s still a less-than-efficient offensive player through the first two years of his college career with an offensive rating of 93.1 last season, per kenpom.com, which was an ever-so-slight increase from his freshman season (92.4). The national average last season was 102.9.

Over Indiana’s final five games, each of which was in the postseason and all of which Galloway played in after missing the previous five games, he was featured in the team’s second through fifth-most used lineup combinations, typically as the first sub off the bench, per kenpom.com.

He scored in double figures just twice all season with one of those games coming against Northwestern, when five of his teammates were suspended and when Galloway started as the team’s de facto point guard. In a career-high 37 minutes, he finished with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and five turnovers before fouling out, while committing two costly hook-and-hold fouls. That game featured one of his six 3-pointers all season, while taking 28.

Through two seasons, he has made 12 of his 61 3-point attempts, or 19.7 percent.

With the loss of Parker Stewart, who shot 39.3 percent from deep last season, and the 3-point shooting struggles of returning guards Tamar Bates (29.8 percent) and Anthony Leal (31.8 percent), the Hoosiers will need to find additional 3-point shooting from its guards and wings next season, including Galloway.

Galloway had the second-highest turnover rate on the team at 22.8 percent, meaning for every nine possessions that ended in Galloway making a shot, missing a shot that was rebounded by the defense or committing a turnover, roughly two of those possession-ending actions was a turnover, on average. He averaged 1.4 per game, which was tied for the third-most on the team.

Here are his per-game and advanced stats, the latter courtesy of kenpom.com, from the last two seasons.

Anecdotally, Galloway is at his best as a pesky defender (his 2.6-percent steal rate was tied with Rob Phinisee for the best on the team) and on the fast break. More than 49 percent of his shot attempts last season coming at the rim, which was the second-highest percentage on the team, behind only Trayce Jackson-Davis, per hoop-math.com. Last season, when healthy, he also showed a comfortable and consistent touch on floaters and runners in the lane, which led to 52.4-percent shooting on shots that hoop-math.com classifies as 2-point jumpers.

As much of the sport has prioritized a shot selection that’s heavy on 3-pointers, shots at the rim and free throws, Galloway really only checks one of those boxes at this point in his career, as he attempted just 20 free throws in 20 games last season and averaged just better than one 3-pointer every four games.

After Stewart’s decision to transfer, there’s at least one opening in Indiana’s starting lineup going into next season, although that position could be one earmarked for a 3-point shooter if Miller Kopp, Race Thompson and Jackson-Davis, pending his NBA draft stay-or-go decision, are ultimately the starters at the three, four and five.

Minimally, expect Galloway to be Indiana’s first man off the bench next season, filling 20 to 22 minutes per game on average. If he’s able to increase his 3-point percentage north of 30 and even prove capable of initiating the offense in spurts, while taking better care of the ball, when Xavier Johnson is on the bench, then Galloway could play the fourth-most minutes on the team next season as a do-it-all contributor who gets labeled a glue guy or X-factor, while averaging something like seven or eight points, two or three rebounds, two or three assists and more than a steal per game.

SEASON IN REVIEW: Trayce Jackson-Davis | Xavier Johnson | Race Thompson | Jordan Geronimo | Miller Kopp | Anthony Leal | Khristian Lander