Indiana basketball season in review: Malik Reneau

Okay first of all I really need you to take a second to appreciate that the stars have aligned for this headline to rhyme. Neat, huh?

Anyway, Malik Reneau was a very last second commitment to Indiana men’s basketball last offseason. He’d originally committed to Florida under Mike White, who ran out of Gainesville to take over at Georgia after the firing of Tom Crean (which is weird, but sure).

Woodson, his staff and fellow freshman/teammate at Montverde Academy Jalen Hood-Schifino moved in quickly. Reneau was verbally committed to Indiana before he’d even left Bloomington during his official visit.

His freshman season was, well, interesting.

A promising start was almost immediately met with foul trouble and the dreaded freshman wall. He scored 8 points in 37 minutes against North Carolina, rutger and Nebraska while picking up 10 personal fouls in that same timeframe.

He was never consistent in conference play, scoring 15 points at home against Ohio State while managing just one point on the road against Northwestern, but his overall play improved. Granted there wasn’t much room for him with Trayce Jackson-Davis taking the lead in post scoring.

Then, during Indiana’s NCAA Tournament play, Reneau was fouled just twice across 22 minutes of play. Progress!

He was also arguably Indiana’s second bent rebounder after Jackson-Davis. He finished fourth on the team in total rebounds despite limited minutes, it’s where his impact was felt the most on the season.

His scoring, while limited, usually came when the Hoosiers needed it most and off of footwork in the paint.

With both Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson moving on from Indiana, Reneau has the most experience of returning members of the Hoosiers’ frontcourt. It wasn’t a factor much in 2022-23, but his ability to score from midrange should factor into his play next season.

Barring transfer portal gets or surprise commitments from freshmen, Reneau figures to have a large role next season as he looks to cut down on fouling while improving on offense.