Jan. 20, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer
(@MickOnTheMesa)
If expectations were unfair, they were no less forgiving, a player pressed into service at a position where the only tools lacking were a user's guide and a road map.
Trey Kell, high school shooting guard extraordinaire, was being asked to assume the duties of a point guard. As a freshman. As a freshman in charge of directing traffic for a Division I college basketball team that in recent seasons had made the NCAA Tournament Selection Show not only mandatory viewing, but a routine part of the program.
The growing pains were predictable and the accompanying criticism no less kind. A hometown standout at St. Augustine High where scouting services pegged him as the eighth-best player in the state and the 23rd-best shooting guard in the nation, Kell's attempt to fill the sizable shoes of former Aztec standout Xavier Thames was a laudatory leap, but one that fell decidedly short.
A player who as a high school senior had averaged 25.6 points, Kell finished his initial campaign at SDSU averaging 5.6 points. He shot 33.3 percent from the field (22.1 percent from three) and had 56 assists paired with 38 turnovers.
"Much was expected of Trey Kell last year when he walked in the door," Aztecs head coach Steve Fisher said at the outset of the current season. "We put the ball in his hands maybe more than we should have as a freshman, but I thought he did an admirable job."
On Tuesday night, Kell turned admirable into phenomenal.
Having returned to his natural position this season with the arrival of freshman point guard Jeremy Hemsley, Kell finished with a career-high 27 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals as SDSU held off Fresno State, 73-67, in overtime to move to 13-6 overall and remain the only unbeaten team in Mountain West play at 6-0.
Kell's first career 20-point performance also marked the highest point total by an Aztec this season and the most since Thames finished with 30 in an NCAA Tournament win against North Dakota State on March 22, 2014. He became just the second SDSU player to record a game with at least 27 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals since Brandon Heath did it in a game against BYU on Feb. 24, 2007.
This, despite being assigned the unenviable task of shadowing Fresno State guard Marvelle Harris, the school's No. 4 all-time leading scorer. Harris, who entered the contest as the second-leading scorer in the Mountain West at 19.6 points per game, had nine points in regulation (12 for the game) and finished 4-of-20 from the floor.
"Last year did a lot for me," said Kell, whose NBA-range three-pointer in overtime gave the Aztecs a 65-61 lead with 2:24 remaining. "Being in a position I don't normally play really helped me a lot with ball skills and reading the defense and being able to play pick-and-roll. I had a pretty rough season toward the end, but I still think it really helped me a lot in terms of where I am today. My confidence is growing every day."
His confidence absolutely surged in the second half, when Kell, who hit 9-of-13 shots on the night, scored 12 of the Aztecs' 23 points. He had six points in the overtime period.
"Trey is a very good player, and right now he knows he's a very good player," Fisher said in the aftermath of a game that saw his team win its sixth straight and equal the second-longest streak in school history with its eighth straight MW win (dating back to last season). "We told him last year that he was a very good player. But I don't know if he was as convinced as we were.
"But Trey changed everything about who he is, and not just his disposition. I had people come and watch us during fall workouts and they didn't even know who he was. His body looked entirely different. He's growing up. When you see what he did (in high school), he did the same thing tonight. And he did it and didn't think anything of it. I think he's starting to say, this is what I'm supposed to do. I can play unafraid. And he's doing that. Obviously, he made some big-time plays for us tonight. There was some heavy-duty traffic that he took the ball through tonight. There was a lot of swiping and pushing and clawing at the ball and he made the right play."
SDSU is 9-2 this season when Kell scores in double figures, which he did for the sixth straight time on Tuesday. He set a career high for field goals in a game, made a season-high seven free throws and had a career high four steals. He has at least four rebounds in nine straight games.
"Trey had pretty good ball skills a year ago, but he's much more confident with the ball and much tighter with the dribble," Fisher said. "He can get into traffic and cross-over (dribble) and make a play in traffic that I don't know he felt like he could make a year ago. I think his strength has something to do with that. He's a lot stronger now. And when you get bumped and hit and pushed, you have to be able to take a hit."
Trey Kell has shown he can take a hit. He's also proving rather adept at delivering one.