Five years ago, Tre’ McLean was an NCAA Division II signee out of West Ashley High School in Charleston, S.C.
Then he came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in fall 2013 as a preferred walk-on. He was following his college coach, Wes Long, from Queens University of Charlotte to UTC after Long was hired as an assistant by coach Will Wade entering his first season leading the Mocs.
Expectations weren’t very high for McLean at that point, though he was initially labeled as a good fit for Wade’s “Chaos” system. But that never really got off the ground at UTC due to a lack of depth, a problem not fully addressed for the Mocs until after Wade – who’s now preparing for his first year at LSU – left to take over as coach at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015.
In his first season at UTC, McLean averaged 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds, and the Mocs were 11-4 in games he started despite McLean going two months without making a 3-point field goal. Both Wade and the Mocs’ most recent former coach, Matt McCall – who left after last season to take over at Massachusetts – said McLean “impacts winning” by defending so well, which is what caused Wade to continue to start McLean despite his shooting struggles.
In his final two years with the Mocs, McLean took off to the tune of consecutive All-Southern Conference selections.