The 2023-24 season was one of growth for Indiana’s Malik Reneau.
The 6-foot-9 forward from Miami, Florida saw his role expand with the graduation of Trayce Jackson-Davis.
With Jackson-Davis in the NBA playing for the Golden State Warriors, Reneau saw his minutes nearly double from 14.9 to 28.7 per game.
Even with a much higher usage rate and defenses honed in on him, Reneau’s efficiency improved in his sophomore season. After shooting 56.9 percent on 2s in his freshman season, Reneau shot 59 percent on 2s in his second season. According to KenPom, his offensive rating grew from 101.8 as a freshman to 106.6 as a sophomore. He had the seventh-highest usage rate in the Big Ten at 27.3 percent, easily the highest on the IU roster.
In Big Ten games, he shot 59.7 percent on 2s – the 10th-best mark in the conference. At times, Reneau was unstoppable on the right low block. Reneau doesn’t overwhelm defenders with his athleticism. But when he can reach his spots, his footwork, strength and patience often yield him a favorable look. Despite being a below-the-rim player, Reneau shot 69 percent at the rim, according to Hoop-Math.com.
Reneau also extended his game to the perimeter last season. As a freshman, he attempted eight 3-pointers and connected twice. Last season, he took 45 triples and made 15, good for 33.3 percent. While 3-point shooting won’t ever be a staple of Reneau’s game, it was a nice wrinkle in his development.
He also showed off his passing ability, growing his assist rate from 9.7 percent as a freshman to 20.3 percent in his second season. In Big Ten games, Reneau’s assist rate of 18.1 percent was 19th-best in the Big Ten.
For his efforts as a sophomore – Reneau averaged 15.4 points, six rebounds, 2.7 assists – he earned All-Big Ten honorable mention accolades after the season.
As Reneau prepares for his third season at Indiana, he is expected to take another step forward in his development.
What areas of Reneau’s game have the biggest room for growth and can unlock his potential? There are several.
Cutting down on fouls should be a focus for Reneau despite making significant improvement from his freshman to sophomore season. In his first season, Reneau averaged 6.8 fouls per 40 minutes, according to KenPom. He cut that number to 4.3 per 40 minutes last season. Still, Reneau found himself in foul trouble too often. He fouled out seven times, including six times in IU’s final 14 games.
In Indiana’s 79-59 loss at Purdue in February, Reneau committed three fouls in 70 seconds, which led him to foul out in 23 minutes. He scored just six points.
Decision-making out of the post is another area where Reneau can make gains in his third season. At times last season, Reneau waited too long to make a decision when he felt pressure with the ball. His passing is a strong suit, but making reads to find the open man more quickly should help cut down on some of his turnovers. Last season, Reneau had 10 games with at least four or more turnovers.
With better talent around him this season, Reneau should feel less need to try to attack double or triple teams. Better guards on the perimeter should help Reneau trust his teammates more if he needs to move the ball out of the post to a teammate.
Indiana was a poor rebounding team on both ends last season, finishing 254th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage and 211th in defensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom.
The Hoosiers did have the Big Ten’s best defensive rebounder last season in Kel’el Ware and might have the best defensive rebounder next season in Oumar Ballo, but they need the rest of their roster to be better on the glass. That includes Reneau and the guards.
In an offseason when the transfer portal garnered most of the Indiana basketball headlines, retaining Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako was pivotal in the program’s quest to return to the NCAA tournament.
“It was huge getting them back,” Mike Woodson said in late May. “But moving forward, you gotta put pieces around them. They can’t do it by themselves. We showed some of that at different times of the season last year. We needed more pieces around them. It was huge getting them back though because they’re a huge piece to our puzzle. No doubt about that.”
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