Mr. Basketball for the state of Michigan, a consensus top-25 recruit and a McDonald’s All-American — freshman guard Trey McKenny stepped onto the No. 7 Michigan men’s basketball team as ‘that guy’ in high school.
But even as a blue-chip recruit, McKenny joins a Wolverine squad littered with talent. With other oversized guards in the form of graduate Nimari Burnett and senior Roddy Gayle Jr. as well as other big-time names like graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, McKenny’s position as the one star gets reduced. It could have taken a season or longer adjusting to a more backseat role, but luckily, no one has anything but praise for his development and team camaraderie so far.
“Just like any freshman, (McKenny) has really good days and then he has some other subpar days just like everyone on our roster,” Michigan coach Dusty May said Sept. 30. “But he’s been awesome to coach. He wants to be better. He wants to win. He loves representing Michigan. Trey McKinney is a lot of what’s right about college basketball.”
In many ways, McKenny’s high school resume speaks for itself. As a bonafide scorer, he averaged 23.8 points per game senior year while shooting 42% from behind the arc. Not just a shooting threat, McKenny also averaged 2.9 assists while grabbing 10.2 rebounds per game.
Slimming down by 18 pounds throughout the offseason while increasing his athleticism, McKenny’s frame alone synergizes well with May’s fast-paced offense. Standing at 6-foot-4, McKenny has the tools to become a weapon downhill and in the post against smaller guards. Further, his deep-range shooting opens up the court and makes him a dangerous inverted pick-and-roll player.
“He’s just ahead of the curve: physically, high IQ shoots the ball at an elite level, (in) all three levels,” Burnett said Thursday at Big Ten Media Days. “You could just see that he’s above, especially in a high school, that he was above in those areas and he’s going to help tremendously.”
Defensively, McKenny’s physical traits also lend themselves well to the Wolverines’ style of play. With a 6-foot-9 wingspan, McKenny will thrive in the switch-heavy defense Michigan likes to employ, even when he has to pick up the opposing teams’ forwards.
And while McKenny wasn’t a point guard in high school, May’s offense requires all but select centers to be able to carry the ball up the floor — a skill that McKenny has improved greatly in the offseason.
“The uniqueness with (McKenny) is just his ability to be able to facilitate as well as score,” Gayle said. “Everybody knows him as a great scorer, but this summer, he’s taken long strides of being a facilitator, being able to read the defenses and be able to kind of pinpoint passes, even playing some backup point guard, especially with some of the guys dealing with sicknesses.”
All of this together — the shooting, the defense, the size and the feel for the game — encapsulates exactly what the Wolverines are looking for from a high profile recruit, versatility. Some days McKenny will start, and some days for the first time in his young career he’ll come off the bench. Some days he’ll have to be a 3-and-D guy and others he’ll be the main engine of the offense. But regardless of his role, McKenny should and will be expected to be a key contributing member of the Wolverines.
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