<p>Pittsburgh transfer Trey McGowens has received a waiver from the NCAA to play this season for Nebraska.</p>
<p>https://twitter.com/coachagates/status/1313220898632146944</p>
<p>CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein was first to report the news, which Hail Varsity confirmed on Monday afternoon.</p>
<p>McGowens is a 6-foot-4, 191-pound junior guard who was a two-year starter at Pitt. He averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.6 turnovers and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 38.9% from the field, 31.7% from 3 and 74.6% from the free-throw line in his 66 career games as a Panther.</p>
<p>"We are excited that Trey received a waiver from the NCAA, and we want to thank the work of our compliance staff in helping him become eligible for this season," Coach Fred Hoiberg saidin a release. "Trey has the experience and skill set to be a difference maker for us this year."</p>
<p>McGowens was a 4-star prospect ranked 95th national in the 247Sports Composite rankings coming out of Hargrave Military Academy in 2018. He cracked the starting lineup from day one at Pitt and averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 41.7% from the field, 32.7% from 3 and 76.4% from the free-throw line as a freshman. </p>
<p>McGowens upped his playmaking as a sophomore, averaging 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists, but his efficiency took a hit as he shot just 36.7% from the field including 31.1% from deep.</p>
<p>At Pittsburgh, McGowens shared the backcourt with one-time Nebraska commit Xavier Johnson. The Huskers are looking to develop McGowens further as a point guard in Lincoln.</p>
<p>“Trey is a guy that played in an unbelievable league obviously in the ACC, and in his two seasons at Pitt he started 64 of the 66 games that they played,” Hoiberg said on Sports Nightly back in April. “He averaged almost 12 points in his two years. The thing that I really like is you see what happened with his assist numbers in year two, they really went up and I think he’s a guy that you can put the ball in his hands and he can really facilitate the offense. As we talk about this with all these guys that have the ability to playmake, when I look back at my best teams that I had at Iowa State, I had five guys on the floor that can make a play and make a shot. Trey certainly fits into that.”</p>
<p><a href=”https://hailvarsity.com/s/9520/what-trey-mcgowens-can-bring-to-nebraska-basketball” target=”_blank”>McGowens</a> is an explosive athlete, and at 6-foot-4 he has the size to guard multiple positions in the backcourt which can open the door for Hoiberg to deploy a variety of lineups. McGowens could defend shooting guards while sharing the backcourt with Western Illinois grad transfer Kobe Webster (6’, 172 pounds) or he could defend point guards alongside Western Kentucky transfer Dalano Banton (6-foot-9, 204 pounds).</p>
<p>“He’s another guy that can play all over the floor because of his uniqueness of his skill set and is ability to score the ball at all three levels,” Hoiberg continued. “He had a 30-point game against Florida State and a 33-point game against Louisville in the last couple of years. Again, a very, very versatile scorer of the basketball, tough kid, athletic and a guy that has great experience as well.”</p>
<p>McGowens’ eligibility adds depth and talent to a backcourt that was a little light on ball-handlers without him. Besides Webster and Banton, Nebraska has true freshman Elijah Wood as a combo-guard. Western Nebraska Community College transfer Teddy Allen can handle the ball as well, but he’s more of a scorer than a distributer and will play more on the wing.</p>
<p>The NCAA has been much more lenient with granting waivers this season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as few transfers have had their waiver requests declined. The ruling is good news for a Nebraska team that had a waiver request (and multiple appeals) go the other way last season with Shamiel Stevenson.</p>
<p>Currently, Nebraska has 12 scholarship players eligible for this season while Division II Indianapolis transfer Trevor Lakes plans to redshirt this season while he adjusts to the Division I level.</p>
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
