BLOOMINGTON — Trey Galloway is a fisherman. Has been from a young age.
Galloway got fishing from his father, Mark, who also coached him in high school at Culver Academies. Look deep enough on Instagram and there are various pictures of Galloway with a catch — brown trout, bass, catfish, white bass.
Galloway is a persistent fisherman. Stubborn, perhaps.
“Holy moly,” said Ed Kelley, a Master Instructor and freshman basketball coach at Culver, “once he starts, it’s just like dude, you’re gonna be there for a couple of hours. And talk about the patience it requires if you’re fishing with him and you’re not catching anything. You’re like man, let’s get out of here. Nuh-uh. He’s gonna keep at it. And it’s so funny because it’s always like ‘one more, one more cast, one more cast, one more cast.’ Even if it’s like for gross catfish, he’s got to get it. He’s not gonna leave it until he gets it.”
Trey, would you agree with that assessment?
Added Kelley: “He is a guy who, if he commits to something, he will see it through to the end.”
Talking Points:Jalen Hood-Schifino is taking over. What happens when Xavier Johnson returns?
Doyel:Nobody was beating IU today — not even No. 1 Purdue. Assembly Hall made sure of it.
Galloway is not only a fisherman but also a burgeoning glue guy for IU basketball and is having his best season in college yet. Recently, that came in the form of an 11-point performance in IU’s 79-74 win over No. 1 Purdue on Saturday.
But who he is as a fisherman is important.
Because the qualities of Galloway the fisherman reveal even more about Galloway the basketball player.
Culver was hosting La Lumiere, the nation’s No. 1 team. It was during Galloway's junior season. The score was tied with just more than four seconds remaining in regulation. Galloway was at the free-throw line shooting two.
Then he missed the second.
The game went to overtime.
In overtime, it was tied as time wound down. But Galloway committed a foul with less than one second left, setting up what became the winning free throw for La Lumiere. Culver lost the game.
“You would think you would see him wear it on his sleeve,” Kelley said, “Nope… His focus was just like we had just lost or won another game — as opposed to him missing shots that would’ve beaten the No. 1 team in the country. It was like the exact same focus and mindset — just elevated a bit and he was really leading that charge as opposed to feeling sorry for himself.”
Similarly — now at IU — Galloway has been defined by how he has handled obstacles, rather than the obstacles themselves.
Over the course of his first two seasons, he played well enough to crack the starting lineup at times and made an obvious impact but struggled to stay healthy. He said he played at about 60-65% — at best — toward the end of last season. This offseason, he had groin surgery.
And there was instability within the program. Archie Miller was fired after Galloway’s first year, one that finished in extreme disappointment. The same day Miller’s firing was announced, Galloway released a statement, without even knowing who the next head coach would be.
“I’m staying and I believe in IU basketball and I trust in everything that is going to happen in the future,” Galloway told Joe Tipton.
Roughly a month after Mike Woodson was hired, there was a post on an online discussion board in an IU class, Sport in American Society: 'Who is going to win the Big 10 tournament 2022?"
I believe that Indiana University will prevail from the underdogs and win the Big Ten tournament this upcoming year. With multiple new players in Parker Stewart, Tamar Bates from IMG, Miller Kopp from Northwestern, and the returning superstar and future NBA player Trayce Jackson-Davis, IU is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Also with the new coaches in Mike Woodson, Dane Fife, and Thad Matta IU has a nearly entirely new coaching staff who has plenty of experience around the game of basketball and around the NCAA. Expect the Hoosiers to have a breakout season with many superstars truly proving their worth. Indiana University men's basketball team did not live up to expectations last year, which gives the team/returning players even more of a chip on their shoulder to show the country and the fan base what they could have been.”
The name listed of the IU student that posed the question and subsequent answer?
Whether that expectation was realistic or not, Galloway's staunch belief was evident.
IU did not win the Big Ten tournament in Woodson’s first season at the helm. However, the Hoosiers did knock off Michigan and then Illinois, before falling to Iowa. The run gave a window of hope into the future, sending the Hoosiers to their first NCAA tournament since 2016 and proved to be a launching point into this season.
“Trey really understands the importance of bringing people together,” Kelley said. “And if you look, he’s often the guy that’s calling for a huddle.”
Galloway was in third grade when he dribbled to exit the gym. His father's team was about to leave on the bus.
But Mark Galloway had other plans. You have to make your last shot, Mark told his son. So the young Galloway laid one in.
No, Mark said, you have to make five 3-pointers.
“I’m thinking now we’re gonna be here for 20 minutes because he’s a third grader,” Kelley said, “he’s shooting from the hip.”
“I thought, ‘here we go,’” Kelley said.
Then: make, make, make, make, make.
“And they ran off the court like it was ‘yeah, I’m surprised you had to take six instead of five,” Kelley said. “They acted like nothing happened. Like, yeah, this is what I do. And I literally stood there in awe. And I thought holy cow, this kid is special.”
At Culver, Mark Galloway has a rule that freshmen have to try out for the freshman team. Trey was no exception. He only practiced for about 30 minutes before being moved up.
“He was the most vocal, the most supportive in the drills and it was all about modeling for other freshmen, who would be teammates of his later on, how you’re supposed to work,” Kelley said.
This is a long way of saying the tools have been there for Galloway. The growth he has shown this season has been incredible. He currently has season average bests in points (7.5 per game), rebounds(2.9), turnovers 0.8) and 3-point percentage (50%). Despite missing a few games earlier this season due to injury, he has been a versatile force in IU’s lineup, starting 13 games.
As Indiana has dealt with the absences of Xavier Johnson and Jalen Hood-Schifino at various points this season, Galloway, nicknamed "Crazy Man" for his playing style, is part of the glue that holds the Hoosiers together. There is still room for growth, as Galloway hasn't yet become a star. But this season, he has played his role remarkably well. IU, which looked primed for a nosedive after losing three consecutive games in the Big Ten, has now effectively turned its season around. Galloway has played a key part in that.
Known earlier in his career as a slasher and creator, one of the most surprising storylines this season has been Galloway’s improved 3-point shooting. He shot 18.2% from deep in his first season, 21.4% in his second. But he has made 20-of-40 from deep this year.
On top of the energy he brought earlier in his career, he is now a sniper from behind the arc.
“Just steady repetition that I've been trying to focus on and game-like shots and just being ready to shoot it and knock it down when it comes out to me,” Galloway said earlier this season. “I think just having that confidence and keep building that confidence and have my teammates pick me up when I'm not shooting as well, it's been great, so just keeping that up.”
IU led Purdue by three with a little less than 13 seconds remaining. Galloway was playing the No. 1 team in the nation again. This time, in college.
Leading up to that 1-and-1, Galloway had played a really good game. Defensively, he played an important part in slowing down Purdue's guards. With under four minutes remaining, Galloway made a nifty move to open up a right-handed finish and extend IU's lead to five.
But eventually, with IU leading by three and a little less than 13 seconds remaining, Galloway headed to the free-throw line.
It was 1-and-1 — a chance to nearly seal the game.
This time, the fisherman made both.