Indiana Basketball Returner Focus: Junior Forward Malik Reneau

The Indiana basketball program is going to look a whole lot different with many new faces coming in this season however, they will bring back a very strong returning core from a season ago.

While there are many new faces to the program, the Hoosiers will return six players with the experience to help lead the new group.

While we will be looking at every player for the upcoming 2024-25 Indiana basketball season, we are going to kick things off with our Indiana basketball Returner Focus series looking at all the returning stars for the Hoosiers.

For today, we take a look at junior forward Malik Reneau and look back at last year plus his role for the 2024-2025 Indiana basketball season.

Other Players in the Series: Trey Galloway, Anthony Leal

Watch: Talkin’ Bout the Hoosiers: 2023-24 Indiana basketball Player Recaps – Malik Reneau & Kel’el Ware

Last Season Reflection

One player that had no other choice than to make a leap forward for Indiana basketball last season was the Monteverde Academy product, Malik Reneau. With Reneau being the only returning big from the 2022-23 season, he had major shoes to fill with him looking to be the successor in the front court for Trayce Jackson-Davis.

While only being a sophomore, Reneau was looked as the leader of the front court last season for Indiana basketball, a role that he took a lot of pride in.

Reneau made a lot of improvements to his body and overall play from the his freshman to sophomore season. He came into last year a lot more leaner, stronger and faster than what he was when he came to Bloomington two years ago. The improvements that he made only helped him become on of the top bigs in the Big Ten.

He appeared in all 33 games for Indiana basketball, starting in all of them. He was the team’s second leading scorer averaging 15.4 points per while also adding 6.0 rebounds and 2,3 assists. He shot a real solid 55.8% from the field which included being the 10th best in the Big Ten Conference when it comes to scoring in the paint shooting 59.7% on 2s. Reneau also shot a respectable 33.3% (15-of-45) from three, showing off his potential as a more versatile big moving forward.

Reneau developed a very good on-court connection with fellow front court teammate, Kel’el Ware, who opted to head to the NBA after just one season with Indiana basketball. With the front court duo of Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis coining the term “Buddy Ball,” Reneau and Ware created a new, more versatile version of buddy ball. Where Reneau was more of a player that would do most of his work in the paint using his strength and mobility around the rim, Ware was more of the lob threat and player used in pick-and-roll/pop actions. They were also very good at recognizing when one or the other was open becoming very unselfish with the ball.

Reneau was the power big and Ware was the finesse big.

“They’re playing well together,” Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson said earlier this season when talking about the Reneau/Ware duo. “When you talk about going against teams that got big bodies, they’ve got to play that way. We call it buddy ball. They’re really connecting in terms of making plays for one another, high-low plays. They both are extremely good passers with the basketball. They give passes. If you’re open they’ll give you the ball. You’ve just got to do something with it when you get it.”

While the duo of Reneau and Ware became one of the best front court tandems in the entire county, Reneau often had his struggles, mainly when it came to foul trouble, scoring at the foul line, and overall not producing at times to the level he needed to in Mike Woodson’s heavy inside-out style.

The foul trouble is the most concerning part out of the areas in which Reneau struggled with last season, and really the entire time he has been a part of the Indiana basketball program. To emphasize how bad his foul trouble was last season, Reneau had eight games where he finished with at least 4 fouls, fouling out in seven games as well. Per 40 minutes, Reneau averaged 4.3 fouls with it being a slight improvement of his 6.8 fouls his freshman season.

Like also mentioned, Reneau also was not much help at the foul line for the Hoosiers as well. Getting to the foul line a very high number of times at 142, Reneau only connected on 68.3% of his attempts. Indiana basketball struggled as a whole when it came to taking advantage at the free throw line, but Reneau’s below average efforts at the line did not help much in that regard.

Despite the few struggles that Reneau had, a strong case can be made that he was the best player for Indiana basketball last season in many ways. He scored a career high 34 points vs Kennesaw State this past December and really only had six games in which he did not score in double figures.

He finished as an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention last season with the potential of becoming an All-Big Ten caliber player this upcoming year.

Role for 2024-25 Season

Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

After much speculation when the season came to an end, Malik Reneau announced officially that he would be returning to play for Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball for his junior season. This announcement was once again proof that the wheels were not falling off like much of Hoosier Nation thought it was and once again proved the trust that players like Reneau had in Mike Woodson as their coach.

Indiana basketball got their leader back in the front court however once again, Reneau will have a pretty much have a whole new front court stable he will have to once again build a strong on-court chemistry with in Oumar Ballo and Langdon Hatton as the new faces.

For Reneau next season, it all about how much more versatile of a power forward he can become for Indiana basketball. You can be almost 100% certain that Mike Woodson is going to once again use an inside-out style of play more often than not and we will see a lot of Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo. The question on a lot people’s mind that follow Indiana basketball will be whether both Reneau and Bellow fit together.

For that heavy of a front court, Reneau will have no choice but to become more versatile of a player, which he has shown flashes that he can do so. Ballo is a completely different player than what Kel’el Ware is and in order for the middle to not be as clogged up, Reneau is going to have to be more comfortable stretching the floor for the Hoosiers to have success next season. One of the main reasons that he was recruited to Indiana was the high potential as a versatile player as Mike Woodson wants his four-men to be on the floor.

In order for Reneau to have a chance to prove his versatility, he is going to have to simply….stay on the floor. PERIOD. He cannot continue to be undisciplined when it comes to not fouling if Indiana basketball wants to achieve their lofty goals for next season. He has to be on the floor for IU to be find success.

You also want to see Reneau become a more dominant rebounder and elite passer as well. Indiana needed to improve their rebounding which is why they got Oumar Ballo out of the transfer portal with the hope that Reneau will improve on his 6.0 rebounds from a season ago. Reneau will also need to take a play out of Trayce Jackson-Davis’ part and become a much better passer and playmaker out of the double-team. Reneau often struggled last season in being to patient when the double-team came so the hopes is that he is going to be a quicker decision maker on the floor next season.

To sum up this next season preview, the role of Malik Reneau next year is likely to be as Indiana basketball’s most important big next season. He is expected to be a leader on this season next season and will be so important for the Hoosiers to have success. If Reneau plays up to his capabilities, Indiana basketball is one of the more dangerous teams in the country.

Reneau has all the potential in world next to be one of the top bigs in the country if he continues to unlock more of his game as well as improving in the areas in which he has struggled in the past two years for Indiana basketball.

Notable Quotes

“This summer (2023), you know, he put a lot of work in. Never really left campus. Got his weight down. The baby fat that he had last year has trimmed down,” Woodson said this past season. “So you just got to tip your hat to him. He put the work in this summer and it’s paying off.”

“Being able to do everything on the court and this year I think I’ll be able to do that and show a lot more of my game,” Reneau said last offseason about his game. “Being able to step out and shoot the three ball, grab it off the rebound and push it. Just doing all the stuff that I am used to doing and just making it where I’m not making a lot of mistakes when I am doing it. Pushing the ball in transition, posting up, shooting threes, you know all that stuff. I just want to be able to show my all-around game.”

“I really got the motivation from Trayce and Race, seeing how they played in the whole Big Ten and seeing how they dominated. I just needed time to understand the game and go out there,” Reneau said after his career-high performance this past year. “Now I’m playing nice and with my pace and being able to score on either block and finish with both hands, step out and create my shot from the 3 ball, shoot the 3 ball, too.”

“Yeah, he’s definitely one of the best players in our league,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “I think you could see that coming last year. He was sorta behind two veteran guys in Trayce (Jackson-Davis) and Race (Thompson), but played a lot and was effective. You can tell that he really worked over the summer. His body’s in a great place. He’s playing with incredible confidence and Mike (Woodson) goes to him. He’s a handful and it creates a situation where you have to pay a lot of attention to him on the defensive end every possession.”

SEE ALSO: One question facing all 12 Indiana basketball players entering the summer

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