‘That’s the Trey Wade I want to be’: WSU senior scores career-high 23 in Tulane win
Talk to anybody in the Wichita State men’s basketball program and they will tell you that Trey Wade is among the hardest workers on the team.
“Trey puts in the work,” WSU coach Isaac Brown said. “Every day after practice, he stays and gets up 200 to 300 jumpers.”
The work ethic is there, which is why it has been so frustrating this season for the Marietta, Georgia native to not see his shooting numbers — he entered Wednesday averaging 5.8 points and shooting 38.5% from the field and 28.2% on three-pointers — align for his senior year.
It was all smiles for WSU after Wednesday’s 78-70 win at Tulane, mostly because the Shockers (14-4, 10-2 AAC) moved one step closer to clinching their first American Athletic Conference championship but also because Wade scored a career-high 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including 4-of-5 from deep to match his career-best in three-pointers made.
“That’s the Trey Wade I want to be,” Wade said. “That’s what I wanted to be coming into this year and I haven’t been that, but I’m consistent with my work and that’s what I continue to push and strive to be.”
So had Wade been spending even more time in the gym lately? Was he getting even better looks against Tulane? How did he explain a career-high explosion after a 13-day layoff in a season where he hadn’t topped 12 points before.
“Same preparation,” Wade said. “Those are the shots I get every game. Just being down and ready. That’s all there is to it, really.”
Examining all of Wade’s field goals back up that claim. Of his nine field goals, four of them were open corner three-pointers, two came on dunks, two on mid-range jumpers in the soft spot of Tulane’s zone and one was on an offensive rebound putback.
The only shot outside of his usual shot selection was a funky, off-the-bounce, one-legged jumper early in the game that he rattled home. Otherwise, Wade did what he’s been doing all season for WSU: spot up in the corner and wait for a penetrating Tyson Etienne or Alterique Gilbert to feed him open looks, hover in the soft spot of zone defenses and crash the offensive glass.
“Trey stays after practice every day and he does those same shots he made today in the game. Literally, those same exact shots,” said WSU junior Dexter Dennis, who added a double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds. “All of the credit to him. And there’s more in store for him. He’s a great teammate and works extremely hard and is a very likable guy. I’m really happy for him.”
The most important development from Wade’s Tulane performance for WSU was seeing him knock down open corner threes and paying the defense pay for leaving him to go clog up the lane. Defenses haven’t exactly made it a priority this season to close out on Wade or pay too much attention to him on the perimeter and that’s dictated by his shooting numbers — letting a 28% shooter hoist up a lot of threes is pretty good calculus for the defense.
Wade is painfully aware watching the film of how fast defenses are to vacate him in the corner to try to cut off dribble penetration. Sometimes he’ll catch open on the three-point line and the nearest defender won’t even bother to rush out to try to put a hand in Wade’s face.
“My confidence and my belief in myself, I don’t care,” Wade said. “If you’re going to leave me open, I’ve got to shoot it. That’s my work. If I’m open, I’m taking the shot.”
Wade is starting to make defenses pay for that decision. Since Jan. 1, Wade has shot 41% on threes (14 of 34) and has made at least one triple in all but one of WSU’s 11 games.
WSU has one of the conference’s most dangerous weapons in Etienne on offense. It has a point guard in Gilbert capable of breaking down nearly any defender. Dennis is in full swing of his annual strong close to the season. Even junior center Morris Udeze has become a reliable scorer on the low blocks for WSU.
And now if Wade, who hit the dagger three in the final 90 seconds to stave off Tulane’s rally, starts to hit those corner threes at a high clip? It not only will force defenses to respect Wade’s shot from distance, but it will also clear the lanes even further for Etienne and Gilbert to drive.
“Guys are making shots now,” said Gilbert, who dished out a career-high 12 assists against Tulane. “A lot more guys on the team are starting to come along. It’s going to be a lot harder for guys to defend us if everybody is making shots.”
Dwarfing the personal disappointment in his shooting numbers this season has been Wade’s exhilaration with the team success. Despite Wade being far below the double-digit scorer WSU knows he can be, the Shockers are still 14-4 overall, in first place in the American and on the cusp of returning to the NCAA Tournament.
Wade hopes Wednesday’s game kicks off a strong close to his senior year, which would help WSU’s offense take another small jump heading into its most important games of the season.
“This is special for my senior year to be in this position,” Wade said. “It’s going to be really special (on Saturday) and I’m looking forward to it.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
.jpg)