Westfield High School senior guard Trey Buchanan had the great benefit of going against Braden Smith in practice when Buchanan was a sophomore.

Smith, the 2022 Indiana Mr. Basketball winner, is in his second season as Purdue University’s starting point guard.

“I definitely learned a lot from both playing against Braden in practice every day and sharing the court with him during games,” Buchanan said. “Just the way he went about himself — pure confidence and a determination to dominate. It also gave me a great feel of where I needed to improve my game in order to succeed both in high school, and now, at the next level, especially when I came in as an inexperienced sophomore.”

Through the first 13 games, Buchanan averaged 11.8 points and 2.5 assists per game for the Shamrocks (12-1).

“Playing behind Braden was a tremendous opportunity to learn how things are done,” Westfield coach Shane Sumpter said. “That gave him a great person to compete against every day in practice. Trey has just continued to work on getting better.”

Buchanan started part of his sophomore season when Smith was injured.

“I think I’ve made improvements in being a leader and being able to score on all three levels, not just being a three-point shooter,” Buchanan said.

Sumpter said Buchanan might have surprised some teams as a junior.

“It’s certainly no surprise now,” he said. “He’s a terrific kid and he just works really hard. He’s definitely one of the leaders on our team. He’s always been a tremendous shooter. I challenged him last year to become more of a scorer and finish around the basket.”

Buchanan’s father is Chad Buchanan, the Indiana Pacers general manager.

“I’ve been around the game of basketball from basically when I came out of the womb,” Buchanan said. “My dad has always worked in the basketball industry, so I was introduced to the sport at a very young age. I definitely fell in love with it, too, at that young age. I used to live in Oregon, and I played on a fifth-grade team as a second-grader because there weren’t any second- to fourth-grade teams in my area. So, I began to play at the earliest stage of my life that I could.”

Buchanan played soccer and baseball growing up. He played soccer until he moved to Indiana late in his sixth-grade year and played baseball until he reached high school.

“That was when I gave it up,” Buchanan said. “I just wanted to focus on one sport and put my all into hoops.”

Buchanan is considering a preferred walk-on opportunity on the University of Iowa’s basketball team. Other options are Indiana Wesleyan University, University of Saint Francis and Trine University.

More Headlines