Hoosiers Look to Be Healthy Heading Into Wednesday's Opener

Even though five players missed one exhibition game as a precaution, Indiana coach Mike Woodson is confident he'll have a healthy lineup for Wednesday night's regular season opener against SIU-Edwardsville at Assembly Hall.

Indiana guard Kanaan Carlyle (9) puts up a shot against Tennessee on Sunday, Oct. 27 in a charity exhibition basketball game. / IU Athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Injuries are always part of the story in college basketball, and Mike Woodson has dealt with his fair share of them during his three-plus years as the head coach at Indiana.

But when the Hoosiers open the season on Wednesday night against SIU-Edwardsville at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Woodson feels pretty good about having his entire team on the floor. And that's despite five players — Kanaan Carlyle, Bryson Tucker, Trey Galloway, Jakai Newton and Anthony Leal — all missing an exhibition game last week.

Galloway, a fifth-year guard, and Newton, a redshirt freshman, are both recovering from knee surgeries. They sat out the Oct. 27 game at Tennessee but then played on Friday night in Bloomington against Marian. Tucker, a freshman forward, also missed the Tennessee game with a bruised thigh but looked fine in scoring a team-high 19 points against Marian.

Carlyle suffered bruised ribs in the Tennessee game and did not play Friday, or practice on Saturday. Leal, who got hurt at Tennesse, also sat out Friday.

But Woodson hopes that all of thme can be ready soon. He talked about several of them when he met with the local media on Monday morning.

"Kanaan didn't do a whole lot in practice the other day (Saturday), and I'm hoping that he's ready to practice today. He had the day off (Sunday),'' Woodson said of Carlyle, the Stanford transfer who started at shooting guard against Tennessee but took a shot to the ribs.

Galloway played 11 minutes and seemed to move freely. He started at shooting guard with Carlyle out. Woodson is hoping to get more out of him now.

"Gallo passed the test, which was great, and he practiced the next day,'' Woodson said. "He had (Sunday) off and I'm hoping that he can log more minutes now. That's my thought process going into Wednesday.''

Newton missed all of last year with a knee injury, and saw his first action Friday, playing 12 minutes. He said he was ''100 percent'' after Friday night's game, but did say that game speed took some getting used to from practice.'' Woodson said "Jakai was sore the next day, which you'd expect.'''

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• NEWTON TALKS DEBUT: A knee injury held Jakai Newton out of his entire freshman season last season, but he made his Indiana debut in Friday’s exhibition game against Marian. CLICK HERE

• INDIANA-MARIAN GAME STORY: Indiana's front line was nearly perfect, with Malik Reneau, Oumar Ballo and Langdon Hatton shooting a combined 19-for-20 in the Hoosiers' 106-64 exhibition victory over Marian on Friday night at Assembly Hall. CLICK HERE

• PAT KNIGHT RELISHES RETURN: Pat Knight, the son of Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight, returned to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Friday for an exhibition game against Indiana in his first year as the head coach of Marian University. CLICK HERE

• WHAT WOODSON SAID: What Mike Woodson said after Indiana's 106-64 exhibition victory over Marian. CLICK HERE.