Indiana basketball falls to Kansas despite heroic performance from Trey Galloway

Indiana basketball lost a heartbreaker Saturday afternoon to Kansas, 75-71 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall despite a heroic performance from senior guard Trey Galloway.

Galloway finished with a career-high 28 points while shooting 12-17 from the field and 2-4 from beyond the arc. His valiant performance was not enough for the Hoosiers who fell, despite leading for the first 35 minutes of the game.

Galloway came into the 2023-24 season with some high expectations but had struggled to meet them. Through nine games, he averaged 8.8 points per game while shooting 44.3% from the field and 13.6% from distance.

Tonight felt like a breakthrough game for Galloway despite the loss.

“He had a good game. It was good to see because he’s had his ups and downs this season,” Mike Woodson said about Galloway’s performance. “But tonight he had a solid basketball game. I just hope he can build on that.”

Galloway was the best player on the court for Indiana basketball and carried the offense went everything seemed to be falling apart in the second half. Galloway scored 15 of the Hoosiers’ 31 second-half points.

Galloway came out in attack mode for Indiana, as he made an emphasis to get to the rim in the early part of the game.

“No. I encourage him to play hard, do the things that I think he’s capable of doing,” Woodson said when asked if he encouraged Galloway to attack the rim. “I thought tonight he finally displayed that. I mean, I don’t think anybody is holding Trey back.”

Galloway has struggled to shoot the ball from distance this year after shooting 46.2% from three a season ago, but his ability to attack the rim has not gone away.

Through the first ten games of the season, Galloway has shot 62.3% from inside the arc and has relied on his floater when attacking the bucket. Galloway shot 10/13 from inside the arc against Kansas as he was able to get to the basket at will against the Jayhawks’ defense.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing for us was the guards to be aggressive ’cause we saw what they were doing to our bigs. They wouldn’t let them play. We had to step up and do some things.

“I mean, we were moving with pace, so I was able to get over ball screens, on the [dribble-hand-offs], get downhill,” Galloway said about his performance. “I had shots and certain reads. But I thought overall there’s many things that could [I] improve on, as well.”

Indiana ran a ton of dribble-hand-offs with Galloway and Kel’el Ware at the elbow which allowed him to get downhill going to his right hand.

Kansas struggled to defend both Galloway and Ware during the actions and decided to focus on Ware which allowed Galloway to attack the basket.

Galloway’s ability to attack the rim opened up opportunities for him to shoot it from distance against Kansas.

Galloway went 2/4 from three against Kansas and it was the first time he has made multiple threes in a game this season. It was also the first time he has shot above 50% from beyond the arc this season.

Indiana basketball has struggled to shoot the ball all year and will need Galloway to get back to where he was a year ago when he led the team in 3-point shooting percentage.

With Indiana trailing by two and under 25 seconds remaining, Galloway missed the potential go-ahead three which forced the Hoosiers to foul.

“I thought it was good. I mean, not all shots fall. Next opportunity I get, I’m going to shoot it again and make sure I make it,” Galloway said when asked about the shot. “I got to keep trusting my work ’cause I work hard for this. I know I’m going to be able to make shots. Next one I get, I’m going to make sure I knock it down.”

While the miss will be a tough pill to swallow for Galloway, his performance is a primary reason why Indiana had a chance to win the game.

With the lack of guard depth due to Xavier Johnson’s injury, Indiana basketball will need this aggressive version of Galloway moving forward. With conference play starting in January, the Hoosiers will rely on Galloway’s experience to help lead them through the gauntlet that is the Big Ten.

“He had a hell of a game tonight,” Woodson said about Galloway. “I was happy to see that. I just hope he can build on it.”