Cedar Falls’ Trey Campbell is staying close to home, playing for the UNI Panthers
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (BVM) – Although the Cedar Falls Tigers’ season ended sooner than they would have liked, star point guard Trey Campbell is proud of what he and the Tigers accomplished.
“There are a lot of things to look back on that are good,” Campbell said.
The Tigers made it to the state tournament for the fifth straight year in a row. Campbell has been a part of four of those runs and has added his own chapter in the impressive history of Cedar Falls basketball.
“It’s always fun to be a part of a winning team, a winning program but just to continue the streak, continue the journey is great,” Campbell said. “Not a lot of people can do that for a school and not a lot of people can do what I have done for my school and it’s something to look back at and be proud of.”
Campbell adds his name to a list of recent players like AJ Green, Logan and Landon Wolf as well as Chase Courbat. All players who Campbell not only played with but learned from as he prepared for his moment as “the guy” for the Tigers.
“They’re all great leaders to me, helping me just preparing me to be a good leader when it was my senior year,” Campbell said.
Campbell took the information he had learned over the last four years of his playing career and made sure to pass it on to the younger players just like those former Cedar Falls players had done for him. Along with that, Campbell was also the catalyst for this year’s Tigers.
The 6-foot-4 guard led the team in scoring (24.4), assists (4.2) and steals (2.2). Campbell was also the second–leading scorer in Class 4A while doing it in an extremely efficient way. He shot 54.3% from the field while hitting 42.4% of his shots from three.
In one of the biggest games of the season against Valley High School for a trip to the state tournament, Campbell came up big in a low–scoring defensive battle. Campbell scored 23 of the Tigers’ 39 points as they beat Valley 39-36.
His contributions this season not only earned him a spot on the All-Iowa Elite Team, but also showed why the University of Northern Iowa recruited him.
“They really want me to come here,” Campbell said. “No other school is pursuing me like they are so it’s really a no doubter.”
Campbell committed to UNI back in August and then signed his NLI in November. The decision came after a recruiting process that showed Campbell that staying around Cedar Falls might be the right decision.
“UNI was really doing stuff that other colleges weren’t doing when they were recruiting me,” Campbell said.
The Panthers wanted him so now Campbell will be able to stay close to home and play with the former teammates that helped him become the leader he was at Cedar Falls. Green, Landon and Courbat all play basketball with the Panthers and that pre-existing relationship was certainly a bonus of committing to UNI.
“Family is very important to me and connections,” Campbell said. “Having all these connections I’ve made in the past being close to me as I pursue the next level is great.”
His appreciation for family and the other relationships he has made are because Campbell understands how they have helped him get to this point. From his parents driving him to games or practices, to his brother helping him train, Campbell appreciates all the help he has gotten.
“Having my brother by my side really helped me,” Campbell said.
Campbell’s brother helped push him and keep his confidence. Ever since Campbell began to take basketball seriously back in fifth grade, his brother has been there to help.
“When I moved to Iowa pretty much,” Campbell said. “I moved here in like fifth grade. I think that’s probably when I took it more seriously.”
While he was working on his basketball game, Campbell was also becoming an outstanding athlete in the other sports he plays. Campbell led the Tigers in receiving yards this past football season and has even received interest from DI programs for football. Last spring, Campbell was also a part of the boys distance medley team that won state and helped Cedar Falls win the boys track team state title.
However, even with the success in his other sports, Campbell has never waivered on what his favorite sport is.
“It’s always been basketball really,” Campbell said.
Basketball has been the sport he has spent countless hours on and has loved since he first started dribbling. Now that he is entering the next chapter of his life, basketball is taking him there.
