Jared CohenAt the end of Trey Wood’s freshman season at Anthem Prep, he stood 6-2. As his sophomore season came to an end this week, he stands 6-8. The young forward grew six inches in a year and his height is not all that is on the rise. His game on the basketball court is elevating with each passing game. Crazy to think that when Wood first stepped foot on a high school campus for the first time, basketball wasn’t even his main passion.
“Back during freshman year, I didn’t really take the sport seriously,” Wood told Sports360AZ. “I was still playing football, I always thought that I was going to be a football player and then at the end of my freshman year, we played a game at Nogales and I realized then that I wanted to be a basketball player. So in the offseason I worked and I worked almost 24/7.”
“His work ethic and what he does for the team on the floor is not even remotely close to what he does for the team as a leader,” said Anthem Prep head coach Donald Case. “And he has grown not just as a player but as a leader for those guys. So we basically expect them to go get hungry like Trey was and maybe not grow to be 6-8, but bring that mentality that he does.”
Wood had a monster campaign statistically as he averaged 15 points, just over 11 rebounds and 6.9 blocks per game. In this final week of the season, he had two triple-doubles with 17 points, 16 rebounds and 13 blocks against Phoenix Christian and then 14 points, 12 rebounds. 12 blocks and an additional five assists against defending state champion Arizona Lutheran. His 6.9 blocks per game is the best in the state and good for ninth in the nation according to MaxPreps.
“I love blocking shots,” stated Wood with a smile on his face. “It gets me real amped and excited. I love it.”
“Towards the end of the year, he stated to become Bill Russell for us out there,” added Case. “He was actually blocking shots and keeping them in play, pulling them down and basically turning a blocked shot into a steal which is incredible.”
Case went on to explain that their team went from primarily playing zone defense last season to strictly playing man-to-man. He challenged Wood with this saying he will be needed to protect the paint. He has followed through and then some.
Wood’s play on the court is still a work in progress as he mentioned, basketball was not something he took seriously until the end of last year. But he is seeing that there could be a future in this sport for him and he is all in. Wood took an unofficial visit to Arizona State for a game a few weeks back and sat behind Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devil bench.
That experience only made Wood’s passion to work and develop grow that much more.
“It was great,” he mentioned. “I watched every single player individually. I loved that so much. I love watching college basketball, more than NBA. My first ASU game, that was exhilarating. I loved the fans, I loved the players. It was great.”
If the growth seen from Wood from his freshman to sophomore year is even remotely close between his sophomore and junior year, the sky could be the limit for what we could ultimately see from him on the high school basketball court in this state.
