Indiana Basketball Returner Focus: Senior Guard Trey Galloway

The Indiana basketball program is going to look a whole lot different with many new faces coming in this season however, they will bring back a very strong returning core from a season ago.

While there are many new faces to the program, the Hoosiers will return six players with the experience to help lead the new group.

While we will be looking at every player for the upcoming 2024-25 Indiana basketball season, we are going to kick things off with our Indiana Basketball Returner Focus series looking at all the returning stars for the Hoosiers.

For today, we take a look at senior guard Trey Galloway and look back at last year plus his role for the 2024-2025 Indiana basketball season.

Watch: Talkin’ Bout the Hoosiers: 2023-24 Indiana basketball Player Recaps – Trey Galloway & Anthony Leal

Last Season Reflection

I think it is safe to say, Trey Galloway had to do much more than what he was expected to do last season for Indiana basketball. A player that was slotted to be the ‘secondary’ ball handler for Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers, Galloway turned into the primary ball handler for most of the season.

At the start of last year, Mike Woodson had both Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway available as the senior back court leaders for the 2023-24 Indiana Hoosiers. They were both listed as team captains, as well.

Galloway came off a of ‘breakout’ junior season for Indiana basketball displaying a more expanded game. Known as a player that was very efficient playing hard off the dribble and getting to the lane and either facilitating or finishing near the rim, Galloway showed a vast improvement in his outside shooting during his junior campaign. As Indiana basketball did not have a clear answer before this past season when it came to how well of an outside shooting team they would be, many looked at Galloway as a player that could possibly be one of the more consistent shooters for last year’s team.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

As the season progressed, Galloway was forced to take on much more of a role than what the plan was for the Hoosiers. 5th year senior guard Xavier Johnson continued to fight injuries among other things which left Galloway as the most experienced guard on this Indiana basketball roster. In Johnson’s absence, players such as Gabe Cupps, Anthony Leal, and CJ Gunn often tried to help fill the void but each were just not able to give the full help for Trey Galloway that he needed.

Galloway was forced to play the role of point guard, which was not his natural position. In that however, Galloway became arguably the most productive player for Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball at times. Averaging an exhausting 33.4 minutes per game (31 total game), the Culver Academy product averaged 10.6 points, 4.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds. He shot 46.6 percent from the field however that included the just 26 percent from three — a significant drop from the 46.2 percent he shot in his junior campaign.

You can’t ignore the significant shooting drop that Galloway had last season, the numbers do not lie, however you do have to factor that Galloway was really the only guard for Indiana basketball that was able to be that playmaker last season. Johnson was not at his peak at all last year, Cupps was only a freshman, and Gunn was just widely inconsistent.

Galloway was ‘it’ for Indiana basketball which often led to seeing him have career games throughout the year. When you think of the performances for Galloway last year, you often think of the tough loss to Kansas where he scored a career high 28 points and the huge 18-point comeback win on the road at Ohio State where he scored 25 points and made the winning pass to his longtime teammate Anthony Leal for the corner three at the buzzer.

As Indiana basketball started playing their best basketball of the season ahead of the Big Ten Tournament, the pressure and exhaustion for Galloway eventually caught up to him as he suffered a knee injury during the final regular season game vs Michigan State, which also happened to be senior night. While that was an obvious huge blow to Indiana as they looked to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament in hopes of magically making the NCAA Tournament, the huge positive that came out of that night was that Galloway announced he would be using his COVID year and would return to Indiana, along with Anthony Leal, for the 2024-25 season.

With that announcement, Indiana basketball had their captain back.

“I’ll be back next year,” Galloway said during his senior day speech. “Let’s do it.”

Last season was not the season that many had hoped for it to be for Indiana basketball. Being the player that Trey Galloway is, he put a lot of the unnecessary blame on himself for the Hoosiers not living up to their potential. The growth of Trey Galloway last season as leader and player was one of the few bright spots for the Hoosiers. He took on a role he should not have had to do and will benefit greatly from it as next season comes.

All the respect in the world from Hoosier Nation should go to Trey Galloway.

Role for 2024-25 Season

Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

There are two different paths that you will possibly be looking at next season. The good news however, both will lead to him being once again one of the more productive players consistently for the Hoosiers.

Is Galloway going to be a starter, or are we going to see vintage Galloway where he provides the spark off the bench?

Before we get to that, Galloway is currently recovering from his offseason knee surgery that he opted to have after his season was cut a little short. According to HoosierIllustrated.com sources, Galloway had actually been dealing with this injury since earlier in the 2022-23 season. Those sources also state that Galloway chose to ‘tough it out’ due to the ongoing inactivity of Xavier Johnson these past two years.

Good news however, Galloway had successful surgery and is expected to be a full-go at the start of the season.

Once healthy and ready to go, it will be extremely interesting to see what Mike Woodson will do with his 5th-year senior guard. The addition of both Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle not only helps and improves the backcourt of Indiana basketball, but makes things a little bit interesting when it comes to the role of Trey Galloway.

Mike Woodson has been a coach that values his upperclassman and what they bring on the floor as far as leadership. If fully healthy, it would be no surprise of anyone if Galloway resumes his starting role in the backcourt. As the captain of this Indiana basketball team, Galloway is the most experienced backcourt player on this roster next season and will provided the leadership. After his play and progression as a player last season, he had definitely earned a starting spot.

The other situation you could see Galloway in what fans saw him in his first two-and-a-half years and that is that spark off the bench. Trey Galloway was one of the more electric players off the bench in the Big Ten when he was in that role and with both Rice and Carlyle on the roster, there is more than one true playmaker that can produce for the Hoosiers. With that, it takes a lot of pressure off Galloway to be the sole playmaker so if he were to come off the bench, he could get back to do what he does best and that is providing that spark.

Regardless on if Galloway starts or is the 6th-man, he is still expected to be a part of the closing lineup for the Hoosiers. With his experience and knowledge of Mike Woodson’s system, he is probably the most trusted player on this roster to do whatever is needed in order to win ballgames. He is also a much more complete player than he was when he first got to Bloomington so it will be fun to see peak Trey Galloway.

Galloway will be looking to finish out his Indiana basketball career strong with hopefully a championship to go with it.

Notable Quotes

“It means a lot,” Mike Woodson said on senior night. “As a senior that’s what I expect you to do. You know, you go through four years with the program, you grow. You’re supposed to grow every year. If you don’t grow then I haven’t done a great job in coaching. He’s grown and he’s helped us a lot this year in so many ways because we haven’t had Xavier Johnson, the other senior.”

“We got a lot of trust in Galloway. No doubt about that,” Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson said last season. “He’s played probably some of the most minutes of anybody on our team this year. So we trust when the ball is in his hands he can make basketball plays.”

“It’s just about having my teammates trust me and the coaches putting the trust in me with the ball in my hands,” Galloway said last season. “I think coach Woodson has really gained trust in me to have the ball in my hands to make plays for my teammates and myself. The biggest challenge was when to do things and take certain shots. But, that’s gone pretty well. As long as I can find ways to help my team win, I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

SEE ALSO: One question facing all 12 Indiana basketball players entering the summer

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