Michigan Basketball’s Trey McKenney has been as advertised. Here’s how he has emerged into exactly what this team needed out of him as a true freshman:
In an era dominated by transfers, including in Ann Arbor, many Michigan fans didn’t fully know what to expect of true freshman Trey McKenney in his first season of college basketball. So far, he’s lived up to his five-star billing and lived up to expectations.
McKenney is not your typical shooting guard. He’s more of a burly, scoring combo guard at 6-foot-4 with very broad shoulders. However his shooting, defense and athleticism have vaulted him from being eighth or ninth in the rotation up to the de facto sixth man.
Let’s dive into some statistics to see just what makes him so valuable to this team. Despite coming off the bench, McKenney is fifth on the team in minutes and has played more minutes than Nimari Burnett, Roddy Gayle and L.J. Cason. He’s also the fourth-leading scorer (10.1 points per game), behind Yaxel Lendeborg (14.3), Morez Johnson Jr. (13.6) and Aday Mara (11.3).
McKenney’s offensive style of being physical and driving to the basket gets him to the free throw line quite a bit. On the year, he is 51-for-57 from the charity stripe (89.5 percent), which is third in the Big Ten in free throw percentage. He is also an incredibly efficient 34-for-52 from the field (65.4 percent), good for 11th in the Big Ten and behind teammates Johnson (69.3), Mara (68.4) and Lendeborg (67.2). Nearly every player above him in the conference in two-point shooting percentage is a big man.
From three, McKenney’s three-point percentage of 37.6 percent isn’t outstanding, but it’s certainly serviceable and puts him 26th in the conference. Notably, his shooting has been better in big games as, in Michigan’s nine toughest games, he’s shot 42.2 percent from three this season.
McKenney’s profile is that of a player who doesn’t need to touch the ball every single possession, but when he does get the rock, he is incredibly efficient. For a team with a ton of other mouths to feed, this is in incredibly desirable trait.
We saw no better example of this than the matchup vs. then-unbeaten Nebraska two weeks ago. McKenney played just 22 minutes and only attempted eight shots. But when the team needed him, he stepped up in the biggest of ways.
Head coach Dusty May will continue to rely on the young guard to grow and develop throughout the season. However, it’s already clear McKenney is a pivotal piece of this team and the future of the program.
Category: General Sports
