Player Q&A: Malik Reneau discusses summer workouts

Indiana freshman forward Malik Reneau discusses his adjustment to IU, how summer workouts are going and how facing Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson has helped him improve.

Above is the full Q&A.

Below is the full transcript.

Q. On Clif Marshall…

RENEAU: Coach Clif has put a program together to ultimately get us better strength wise and he is doing a great job with that. We have been in the weight room and putting on the muscle and the strength that we need to compete with the older guys because coming from high school to college is a big difference and the playing style and the toughness, so we have to get stronger and Coach Clif is helping us do that.

Q. On playing against Trayce Jackson-Davis…

RENEAU: Well, from Trayce, we are both lefties, so I keep in mind what he does as a lefty. He's real dominant down low and understands how he can control his man in the post, and he just finds a way to get easy baskets down low and I look at that and I see how I can have a resemblance to Trayce being tough and being dominant down low. And then when it comes to competing with the older guys, just really like not falling into all the trash talking and just really ultimately playing my game and that helps me play -- compete against the older guys and I think I do a good job of that.

Q. On the challenges of going against Race Thompson and Jackson-Davis in practices…

RENEAU: It's been a lot of changes. I mean, I've been going against Race and Trayce for two weeks now. You can tell the physical difference from high school and college. It's hard to bump bodies with Race and Trayce because they are all solid and it's not easy to move them. So, I've got to, you know, I have to find different moves or get past them with speed and not just overpower them and that's where I found a big difference and from high school and from college. I mean, I feel like it's more a finesse game and not just trying to back down your man. So that's what I found.

Q. On his biggest basketball influence…

RENEAU: Biggest influence, I'd say my parents. Both my parents, they played basketball, and I know just looking at my mom when she was coming up, she was a good basketball player herself. Just looking at my mom and my dad play, I just wanted to be a basketball player, too.

Q. On CJ Gunn and Kaleb Banks…

RENEAU: CJ and Kaleb, they are both guys on and off the court. We all play with a little toughness and chip on our shoulder, which is great, especially when you're competing again the older guys and I feel like we do a great job of really competing. That's the biggest goal, we need to compete. Then when it comes to their skills and abilities, they all can pass, shoot and dribble and they all do what's necessary to win. That's what I love about playing with my guys.

Q. On the adjustment to college life…

RENEAU: I would say, just being around us and helping us out on and off the court. Trying to do stuff and go out and go eat, or go bowling, and just team bond and do stuff like that together. I think we do a good job of that. Then on the court, really just talking to the freshmens and telling them what to do and what Coach wants us to do on the court and stuff like that. Just really helping us out all on and off the court.

Q. On the competition level in practice…

RENEAU: It's going to help me a lot, it's going to help not only me but everybody takes their game to the next level and that's what we need, to take our game to the next level step-by-step and compete against all these other good schools around the country.

Q. On his skillset…

RENEAU: I'd say having a winning mentality, competing on the court. 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 into like scoring and that's what's going to build my confidence up to be able to score the basketball and to play defense and all that stuff.

Q. On positional play and improvements to be made…

RENEAU: Actually, I mean, I've been playing, you know, I've been playing the four and the five. I mean, going between four and five but I've been playing the four most of the time, going up against Race a lot, and just being able to improve my shooting from pass to arc, and improve my three-point shot, and just being confident with my jump shot and working on attacking close-outs, and staying where I'm comfortable at in the post, too. Just trying to touch on everything. But mostly my jump shot.

Q. On the upperclassmen…

RENEAU: The older guys, they are definitely trying to teach the younger guys how to compete at a high level all the time with ultimately trying to get the Big Ten title and stuff like that. So, it's been a big expectation for the freshmen to really sponge in everything that Coach Woodson and all older guys are talking about and trying to help us improve on.

Q. On his role this season…

RENEAU: 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.

Q. On his parents' career…

RENEAU: My mom played college basketball. My dad is from Belize. He didn't play college basketball. But. Growing up with my mom and dad, they took me to the outside courts all the time and played against them, and they always beat me in one-on-ones and stuff like that. It was fun growing up because they taught me the game early, and trained me early, so I didn't have to really, you know, try to pay for a trainer or anything to help me out with that type of stuff.

Q. On Clif Marshall's plan…

RENEAU: When I sat down with Coach Clif it was really maintaining my weight and building muscle and trying to stay at a good weight, not trying to gain weight or lose weight, because I came in already built and had that weight on me. So, I'm really just maintaining my weight, getting stronger in the weight room, and that's, yeah, that's pretty much it.

Q. On the defensive adjustment in the college game…

RENEAU: It's a big difference from high school basketball to college basketball on the defensive end. A lot of terminologies you need to learn and just ultimately buying into what Coach Woodson got to say because they are one of the best college -- one of the best defensive teams last year. So, it was really buying into what Coach Woodson saying and understanding the defensive scheme he's going through at the time.

Q. On Jalen Hood-Schifino…

RENEAU: Jalen, he's a very unselfish player. Finds his teammates. Knows how to get his shots -- get open shots for himself, and he's just -- he's an all-around player on the defensive end. He picks up the ball 94 feet. He's going to defend their best players and he's just going to be a spark plug regardless if he's starting or he's coming off the bench, and he's just a great guy to be around.

Q. On his parents' influence on his career…

RENEAU: I'd say just staying focused on myself and not worrying about other people on social media and stuff like that. I would say that was the biggest thing, about me trying to worry about what other kids were doing and not what I was focused on, so I think that's probably the big -- one of the biggest lessons. Just worrying about myself and staying in the gym and locked in.

Q. On playing on the perimeter…

RENEAU: Yes, I've been playing outside. The way Coach Woodson's plan style is, the four is outside on the perimeter a lot of times. I've been working on my perimeter game trying to guard the one through the five, and just being able to -- be able to switch on defense and to help expand my game might help expand my range for offensive end and to be able to knock down threes when I'm wide open.

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