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Through three games -- one regular season and two exhibition games -- freshman forward Malik Reneau has shown the type of player he can be for Indiana.
Coming to Bloomington from national powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida, Reneau has emerged as one of the most important players for Indiana -- albeit early on.
Reneau scored 15 points off of the bench in 17 minutes in the season-opener, going 6-of-8 from the field. It was his third game in double-digits since putting on an Indiana jersey.
"He's been solid ever since he put on the uniform," IU head coach MIke Woodson said following Indiana's win over Morehead State. "It's kind of nice to see, man."
Reneau totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds against Marian, 15 points and eight rebounds against St. Francis and then 15 points and five rebounds against Morehead State. In those games, albeit against smaller and less athletic forwards, he was a combined 20-of-26 shooting from the floor.
Reneau started the first exhibition game due to All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis being injured. Since then, he has been a spark plug off of the bench for Indiana -- something he has fully embraced since stepping onto campus.
"To be a spark player for my teammates, whether it's coming off the bench or starting the game off or whatever it is, just really being that spark player for the team," Reneau said earlier this summer. "... You know, doing whatever it takes to help my team win, not only you know trying to score the basketball but help on the defensive end, set good screens to the point guards and stuff like that and just try to do all the little stuff and that's what's going to help my game expand."
The 6-foot-9 forward has shown his ability in a variety of ways. He has posted up, taken opponents off of the dribble from the perimeter, been a passer from the high post and even shown his ability to grab a defensive rebound and push the ball up the floor.
His versatility is something that Mike Woodson was always intrigued by and a piece to this team that he is going to use more and more as the season goes on.
"Nobody is kind of handicapping him," Woodson said. "I've let him rebound the ball and push the ball up, take it all the way to the bucket and make plays. He's made plays out of the double-team. He's shot out on the floor some. Hey, I would never handicap a kid that I think can do all those things.
"Yes, his strength is playing inside-out, and I'm going to hold him to that, too. I think he's a player that can do a little bit of everything, and we're going to hopefully put him in position to do those things. I think we've done that."
In the past, Indiana's weakness was depth, especially in the front court when starters Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis went off of the floor.
"Yeah, I been saying this since he got here. Can't speed him up. He gets to his spots. I mean, I got to guard him every day, so it's fun to compete with him in practice every day, pushing each other," Thompson said. "He has really, really good footwork, really good ball fix. And then just again, like you can't speed him up, so I think that's one of his biggest strengths."
The early results are in for Reneau and he's someone that is going to play a crucial role for Indiana this year.
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