The shot clock was running out and Trey Galloway needed to create something.
A dribble through the legs, swagger backwards and soon the sweet swish of nylon while Assembly Hall roared. The exclamation point on a 11-0 run to give Indiana a 19-point lead with 10 minutes remaining and firm command of a Hoosier 81-65 victory over Nebraska.
“[It’s] steady repetition that I've been trying to focus on …just being ready to shoot it and knock it down when it comes out to me,” Galloway said. “I think just having that confidence … and have my teammates pick me up when I'm not shooting as well.”
Galloway finished with a career-high 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting including 4-for-6 from behind the arc. His shots were key too, including the first points of the game and a 3 after Nebraska cut the lead to seven in the second half.
And yet that saucy shot was not the play that defined IU’s key first Big Ten win of the season.
The play was halfway through the first half. With point guard Xavier Johnson struggling, and Jalen Hood-Schifino out with an injury, Galloway probed into the wall of Huskers defenders drawing defenders. He found Trayce Jackson-Davis in the corner who swiftly swerved the ball inside to a wide-open Tamar Bates for a layup. Timeout Fred Hoiberg and a 15-point IU lead.
Jackson-Davis’ dish was one of an eventual 10 assists for the All-American that led to his historic triple double (the third in Indiana history.) IU’s ball movement was vital to its 81 points. IU had 22 assists to just 11 for Nebraska.
“You've just got to make sure that the spacing is correct, guys are cutting properly, and the ball has got to come out,” Woodson said. “It just can't stick.”
Indiana had seemingly eaten ribs before Saturday’s game at Rutgers with the amount of stickiness in their putrid 48-point performance. Hands were well washed Wednesday night. And it goes back to Galloway, who went from zero points and zero assists in 14 minutes against Rutgers, to 27 points Wednesday and while just one assist handling the majority of the ball in the second half.
In fact, Galloway’s offensive leadership was the impetus for Jackson-Davis’ special night. His ability to find the star senior in opportune positions opened space for Jackson-Davis to be more of a distributor Wednesday to guards. Galloway, Bates and Miller Kopp all out-scored the All-American.
Shooting, ball handling and finally the energy that Galloway displayed made the Culver, Indiana native stand out. The junior’s all-out effort was on full display at Assembly Hall — playground moves, high speed and locked-in defense. It was the toughness and chip-on-the-shoulder play Mike Woodson was disappointed he did not see in New Jersey.
“He works his butt off on the floor in practice, he gives you effort, it spills over in the game,”
Woodson said. “Tonight he was reckless, defensively he was great, and he made shots.”
Galloway came in as the lowest-rated freshman in Archie Miller’s 2020 recruiting class. Yet through being a “crazy man” as Woodson coined him, he is the Hoosiers most effective player of those four now by his Junior year.
There was no guard leadership in Indiana’s loss at Rutgers. Wednesday night they found that their “reckless crazy man” could be that steady hand in the big moments.
