Trey Galloway’s coaches and teammates call him the crazy man.
And on Saturday night at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, it was Galloway driving Purdue and their fans crazy with a two minute and thirty second sequence of events early in the second half that completely changed the game.
Indiana went on a 12-0 run during that span, and Galloway was at the center of it all, with eight points, two forced turnovers and an assist.
“I’ll tell you what, Trey Galloway has come out in the second half, and he’s playing his heart out,” FOX play-by-play man Gus Johnson said during the television broadcast. “12-0 run for IU, he’s hitting shots, he’s forcing steals, he’s dropping dimes.”
Early in his career Galloway struggled with 3-point shooting, but he’s now up to 51.9 percent from long range this season. He struggled with turnovers too, but he hasn’t had one in three straight games despite averaging 33 minutes. He’s averaging 2.0 assists against just .7 turnovers on the season. And he struggled with fouls earlier this year, but Galloway hasn’t had more than three in a game for seven straight contests.
Let’s take a look at how Galloway doused paint thinner on the Paint Crew with another edition of film study.
A MOMENTUM CHANGING THREE
Purdue hit a three to end the first half and scored first in the second half. Up 40-34, it looked like the Boilermakers could pull away. But just like he did when IU trailed 6-1 in the first half, Galloway quieted the raucous home crowd with a 3-pointer.
On this possession it was Galloway who brought it up the floor while Jalen Hood-Schifino played off the ball.
Indiana used all the attention Purdue was placing on Trayce Jackson-Davis against them. They got TJD the ball at the top of the key, and he drove on Caleb Furst and got into the paint. When Galloway’s man Braden Smith went to try to dig the ball out from TJD, the IU big man passed out to Galloway, who didn’t hesitate to put it up when he saw Purdue guard Fletcher Loyer was a step late in rotation.
A PICK SIX
Galloway was given the primary assignment of guarding Smith, Purdue’s point guard.
The IU junior guard has about four inches and 30 pounds on Smith, and he used that to his advantage here.
Smith tried to throw over the top of Galloway who tipped the pass, recovered the loose ball, and then showed why he’s called crazy man. The Culver, Ind. product attacked furiously the other way — and used his size, strength and athletic ability to beat everyone down the court and complete a challenged finish at the rim.
BLOWING UP THE HAND OFF
One of the reasons why Galloway was guarding Smith is that he’s exceptional when it comes to defending ball screens and dribble hand-offs.
Here Smith attempted to take a hand-off from Purdue big man Zach Edey, but Galloway refused to allow it be a routine exchange. He got a hand on the ball, and that caused Smith to lose control of it. Galloway once again recovered the loose ball, and Smith was forced to foul him to avoid another layup going the other way.
A RELIABLE SHOOTER
While Smith didn’t allow him to finish at the rim, Galloway’s second forced turnover would result in more points for the IU guard.
And once again, Purdue’s heavy emphasis on Jackson-Davis played a key role.
Hood-Schifino entered the ball to Jackson-Davis in the post, and Hood-Schifino’s man (Ethan Morton) dropped down to double from the ball side.
TJD kicked the ball back out to Hood-Schifino, and that set off a rotation scramble by Purdue as IU passed around the perimeter to Miller Kopp and then Galloway, who was standing in the opposite corner.
Morton had the assignment to get from doubling Jackson-Davis, all the way over to Galloway in the corner on the opposite side of the court.
Galloway drained his third three of the game. After making just 12 threes over his first two seasons on 61 attempts (19.7 percent), Galloway has made 27-of-52 this season — 51.9 percent.
CRAZY MAN QUICKNESS
Coming out of a timeout on a set play, the crazy man uses his quickness to back cut Smith, and Hood-Schifino delivered a precision bounce pass. Galloway uses his quickness again to get around Edey at the block. The Purdue big man is vulnerable to quick drives around him — a quiet part of Indiana’s game plan against him in their three wins over the last two seasons.
With a step on Smith and Edey, Galloway knows Race Thompson will have a chance to seal off the weak side guard, Loyer, who is stuck between Thompson and Kopp. Thompson did his job and Galloway delivered one of his five assists on the night — against zero turnovers — to cap off the 12-0 run.
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