My Two Cents: Indiana Freshman Malik Reneau Shines in First Hostile Road Game

In the closing minutes of Indiana's 81-79 victory over Xavier on Friday night, it was freshman Malik Reneau who got all the playing time down the stretch, and he responded in a big way for coach Mike Woodson. "I trust him,'' Woodson said.

CINCINNATI, Ohio — During Indiana's first two blowout wins, it was easy for coach Mike Woodson to simply do the plug-and-play thing when it came to rotating players. He went to his bench liberally, they responded well, and the Hoosiers cruised to 35- and 52-point wins.

But it was literally a whole new ballgame on Friday night at Xavier, a consensus top-40 team that will win 20-plus games this season and punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament. That's a fact. The Musketeers, with two good bigs and four perimeter players who can shoot it, are a legitimately good team.

Xavier coach Sean Miller, back at the Cincinnati school after a successful and battle-scarred tenure at Arizona, said point-blank after Indiana's 81-79 victory that he was playing to win. He basically just played six guys all night, including three with four fouls for a long stretch of the second half.

Mike Woodson had to take a similar approach. He went to his bench early in the first half, bringing in four subs, but when Xavier went on a run and took a nine-point lead, he put Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson back in the game. Trayce never came back out, playing 37 minutes and scoring 30 points. It's the seventh time in his career that he's scored 30 or more in a game.

Woodson doesn't need any pat on the back for keeping Jackson-Davis on the floor. That's a simple thing. He's a first-team All-American for a reason and belongs on the floor for every minute of any tight game.

But there were other decisions that Woodson made, and they paid off in a big way. Most notable was trusting 6-foot-9 freshman Malik Reneau with critical moments late in the second half. He came up big, and was a huge reason why Indiana won a nonconference road game for the first time since beating N.C. State in 2011.

Reneau played 11 minutes in the second half, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting with three rebounds, an assist, a steal — and zero turnovers. He was on the floor down the stretch of his first college road game.

“He got in foul trouble, but I trust him,” Woodson said. “He’s solid. I played him with the four fouls knowing that if he fouled out, I still have an ace in the hole with Race (Thompson). That’s the beauty of our team, I think, this season.

“I just told them when we broke huddle, ‘Hey, you know I didn’t play the normal rotations we played played the first two games, and again, I’m still searching, but stay ready.’ That’s all I can tell guys.''

Indiana's two high-profile freshmen, Reneau and guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, are simply different. We've seen that already in just three games.

“You’ve seen him. He and Jalen both have been so consistent since they’ve stepped on campus in terms of their approach off the court and in the classroom and on the court, so I mean, that alone has put him in position to play.”

And play he did. There were some hiccups, of course. He got a technical for being a little too over-exuberant after a basket, and he missed two free throws in the closing seconds, where his nerves definitely kicked in.

"It's just a great atmosphere with the crowd shaking,” Reneau said. “So you get those jitters. But coach Woodson, he just trusts me. During practice, I play hard and it shows in the game, and he just trusts me."

Reneau is averaging 12.0 points per game so far — that's second-best on the team — and is also Indiana’s second-leading rebounder at 5.0 per game. He's a 6-9 lefty, much like Jackson-Davis, and he's causing all sorts of problems for opposing defenses.  That's why Woodson had him out on the floor with Jackson-Davis down the stretch.

“Malik, for how young he is, he’s so mature as a player,'' Jackson-Davis said. "And he’s really getting after it on the defensive end of the floor, because I feel like his offense is already there, “He’s a matchup nightmare for other teams. He has great feel for the game, especially situations, IQ and awareness. I feel like him on the floor with me, we’re really confident in him and he really proved it.”

Woodson feel in love with Reneau quickly this summer. Once he de-committed from Florida after coach Mike White left, Woodson and Hood-Schifino, Reneau's teammate at national champion Montverde, worked hard at reeling Reneau in to Bloomington. When he said yes to Indiana, Woodson gave him ''a big-ass bear hug.''

That excitement isn't waining. Reneau has been great so far and he gives Indiana a second scoring threat inside that they haven't really had the past few years, no disrespect intended toward veteran Race Thompson.

Reneau is probably going to get more and more of Thompson's minutes, and that's perfectly fine. That's what great depth is for.  

It already paid massive dividends on Friday night at Xavier. It was a huge road win for Indiana, and a big confidence booster for sure. There are other brutal road games on the horizon in December — at Rutgers (Dec. 3) and Kansas (Dec. 17). There's also a neutral site game in Las Vegas with Arizona (Dec. 10), so learning how to win on the road is a big, big deal.

Welcome to big-time college basketball on the road, Malik. He's passed his first test in a big way, and there are many more to come.

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