Indiana Hoosiers 6-foot-9 Forward Malik Reneau”My Mission Back Here And Prospects For Hoosiers

Reneau found himself in foul trouble too often. He fouled out seven times, including six times in IU’s final 14 games.

 

In Indiana’s 79-59 loss at Purdue in February, Reneau committed three fouls in 70 seconds, which led him to foul out in 23 minutes. He scored just six points.

 

Decision-making out of the post is another area where Reneau can make gains in his third season. At times last season, Reneau waited too long to make a decision when he felt pressure with the ball. His passing is a strong suit, but making reads to find the open man more quickly should help cut down on some of his turnovers. Last season, Reneau had 10 games with at least four or more turnovers.

 

With better talent around him this season, Reneau should feel less need to try to attack double or triple teams. Better guards on the perimeter should help Reneau trust his teammates more if he needs to move the ball out of the post to a teammate.

 

Indiana was a poor rebounding team on both ends last season, finishing 254th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and 211th in defensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom.

 

The Hoosiers did have the Big Ten’s best defensive rebounder last season in Kel’el Ware and might have the best defensive rebounder next season in Oumar Ballo, but they need the rest of their roster to be better on the glass. That includes Reneau and the guards.

 

In an offseason when the transfer portal garnered most of the Indiana basketball headlines, retaining Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako was pivotal in the program’s quest to return to the NCAA tournament.

 

“It was huge getting them back,” Mike Woodson said in late May. “But moving forward, you gotta put pieces around them. They can’t do it by themselves. We showed some of that at different times of the season last year.

 

We needed more pieces around them. It was huge getting them back though because they’re a huge piece to our puzzle. No doubt about that

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