Wheeler senior Caleb McLaughlin was elevating his game to new heights.
The 6-foot-1 guard scored a career-high 19 points against Highland on Jan. 8 and nearly matched that two days later with 18 points against Griffith.
“Whatever I can do to help us win is really all I want,” McLaughlin said.
But McLaughlin didn’t feel well during the Bearcats’ next game, and he underwent surgery for appendicitis last week.
“We hate to lose Caleb now,” first-year Wheeler coach Aaron Butcher said. “He’s playing great.”
McLaughlin, who is averaging 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists as the Bearcats (5-7, 1-3) prepare to play Calumet in a Greater South Shore Conference game on Friday, is targeting a mid-February return for the final three or four games of the regular season.
The Bearcats shifted their senior night from a Jan. 16 game against Whiting, which McLaughlin said he attended post-surgery but “couldn’t move,” to a Feb. 5 game against rival Boone Grove to better accommodate him.
“Thankfully I’m recovering really fast,” he said. “I’m getting around.”
A three-sport athlete who also plays baseball and soccer, McLaughlin said he has experienced his most “growth” in basketball. He averaged 4.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in his debut as a starter last season.
Senior guard Nick Scott, Wheeler’s leading scorer and top 3-point shooter at 42%, noted McLaughlin is close at 40%. According to Butcher, that number was around 28% earlier in the season, which underscores McLaughlin’s upward trajectory.
“We’re basically the ‘Splash Brothers’ here,” Scott said with a laugh. “If I don’t have a three, I’m kicking it to Caleb for a three. … It’s awesome when him and me are hitting shots. It’s great.”
McLaughlin is also a tri-captain with Scott and senior forward Tyne Vettickal, a multisport standout who is a Valparaiso football recruit.
“Caleb’s been really good,” Butcher said. “He does a great job of coaching the younger kids in practice, leading them and helping them.
“He’s been playing really well. He’s just somebody that is always positive, fun to be around. He does a great job of helping the younger guys.”
McLaughlin is taking his success in stride.
“My role has been to shoot the ball,” he said. “Once I shoot the ball, I want to get my teammates involved as much as I can. I like to pass the ball around.”
McLaughlin said baseball actually is his primary sport. A pitcher and corner infielder, he was a team captain last spring, when he went 4-4 with a 3.87 ERA in a team-high 50 2/3 innings. McLaughlin was also a team captain and the starting goalkeeper for the boys soccer team this past season.
McLaughlin and Scott both expressed confidence that the Bearcats can finish above .500 this season, something they haven’t done since they went 17-7 in 2016-17. That’s also the last time they won a sectional game.
McLaughlin, who intends to study sports media at Butler, believes the Bearcats can end that postseason drought too.
“We’re on the come-up,” he said. “Teams will be scared to play us when it comes to sectionals. They’ll be scared to draw our name.
“It’s the talent we have. We have shooters, we have drivers, we have very athletic players, tall, short. Whatever we need, we have it.”