The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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46 THE WOLVERINE ❱ FEBRUARY 2026 ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL TREY MCKENNEY ENTERS 2026 ON A HIGH NOTE Freshman guard Trey McKenney con- tinues to acquit himself well within the men's basketball program, making high- level contributions in the second wave of U-M's bench attack. McKenney was averaging 10.6 points per game (third on the team) in 19.5 min- utes per night through Jan. 11, surging into the 2026 portion of the schedule with four consecutive double-digit scor- ing efforts. The first in his run was a 17-point outing in a 102-50 blowout win over La Salle in Ann Arbor on Dec. 21. McKenney continues to find his footing on a deep, veteran group, where he has entrenched himself as one of its most reliable pieces. "I feel a lot more like I can play efficient basketball since I've been here," McKen- ney said after the win over La Salle. "Be- ing around a lot of talented guys, this is the easiest shots I've ever gotten in my life. "Super-talented guys on my team cre- ate a lot of gravity, and that opens up gaps for other people and me." McKenney, who was a four-star pros- pect and the No. 21 overall player in the 2025 class, according to the Rivals Indus- try Ranking, says he puts in a lot of time aside from practices in honing his craft and speeding up his development. "I get up a lot of shots before practice, after practice, and sometimes I'll come back at night by myself," McKenney said. "I think my preparation is pretty good, and I just want to stay sharp as much as I can. "I don't really look at how many shots I take, but I know the work is there every day." U-M closed out its 2025 nonconference slate of games with a 112-71 drubbing of McNeese on Dec. 29 in a total team ef- fort with contributions up and down the roster. McKenney finished the game with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, adding 5 re- bounds and an assist. He went on to score 10 against USC and popped for 12 on the road at Penn State before being held to 7 points on 2-of-8 shooting in the loss to Wisconsin. Through 15 games, McKenney was tied with graduate guard Nimari Burnett (26 of 73) for the team lead with 26 made three-pointers, and he was shooting at a 42.6 percent clip (26 of 61) from beyond the arc. The product of Orchard Lake St. Mary's, about an hour up the road from Ann Arbor, has impressed head coach Dusty May with his ability to produce at a high level early on. "He was coached well growing up in his travel programs and also his high school team," May said. "And then he played USA Basketball. Usually, the USA Basketball component is, in our staff's opinion, a good indicator of being able to produce early because they played on teams with really good players when it wasn't just about them. Each player is not getting all the shots, all the attention, all the ev- erything. "Trey's just a really bright person and a well-rounded individual. So that cer- tainly helps. "But anyone that acts and behaves like our guys do, I'm going to give a lot of credit to their support system and their circle of parents and coaches. We've tried to contribute the best we can on our staff. They live it. They walk the walk every day. We're all fighting for a team identity, and we have no personal agenda in our locker room. And that's why we've been able to play the type of basketball we have over the last month." U-M has even given McKenney some run at backup point guard, where he gets a chance to flex a part of his game that is a new wrinkle to his skill set. "I feel really comfortable stepping into that role," McKenney said. "I can show that I can be a point guard with this team, be a leader, pick my spots, and make other people better. "It's been really good for me, and it's shown a different aspect of my game." Unselfishness and buying into any role asked of the players were defining traits of U-M's hot start to the season. McKenney feels like the group can keep that going, and that the seeds of that mentality were planted months ago. "This team has been unselfish from the start in the summer, so there hasn't been a switch. We've been the same team since we came in the summer, and we've been able to build on that through tough games and games like this. "Sometimes our practices are harder than the games. We put a lot into practice, and you can see it during the game, when stuff looks easy." — Anthony Broome Through 15 games, McKenney was averaging 10.6 points (third on the team) and tied for the team lead with 26 made three-pointers. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL