SEATTLE, Wash. — Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson wanted Malik Reneau to join the team on its West Coast Trip
He didn’t want to risk everyone else getting sick.
Reneau came down with an unexpected illness and visited the emergency room on Wednesday night instead of facing Penn State. His status was up in the air with the Hoosiers set to fly out to Seattle on a charter flight the next day.
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“We had talked about maybe flying him out separately,” Woodson said, after the game. “But our good doctor, doctor (Larry) Rink suggested that it would be okay, so it all worked out.”
Reneau showed no lingering effects from his hospital visit in IU’s 78-62 win over Washington on Saturday. He had a game-high 22 points coming off the bench — he was 6 of 6 in the first half — and the Huskies simply didn’t have anyone athletic enough to handle him in the post.
Washington coach Danny Sprinkle said Reneau played like an “all-league guy” and was “tremendous.” He also pitched in to help IU hold Washington’s leading scorer Great Osobor, who had a season-low four points with no field goals and three turnovers.
“He’s great,” IU forward Luke Goode said of Renau. “He’s one of the better bigs in the conference in finishing and getting to his left hand…it’s really nice to have him on a two-game road trip. Credit to him, he played his butt off tonight and we’re going to need that type of production against Oregon.”
It was the third time in Reneau’s last four games that he’s come off the bench and he’s averaged 18.3 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 59% from the field as a reserve during that stretch.
Woodson initially resisted the idea of Reneau coming off the bench back in January while he missed time with a knee injury.
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“It gives us better space, but make no mistake about it, Malik is a big part of what we do, so he’s not going anywhere,” Woodson said.
Woodson had a change of heart before IU travelled to East Lansing to face Michigan State on Feb. 11. He met with Reneau that week to explain the decision — the coaching staff was looking to avoid lineups with him and Ballo on the floor at the same time — since he had been a full-time starter for the team since the start of his sophomore year.
Reneau has taken the move in stride and been one of IU’s most efficient players on offense.
“Our guys picked it up against Penn State and did what we needed to do to secure that win, but we needed him tonight and he responded,” Woodson said.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Malik Reneau played like ‘all-league guy’ less than 72 hours removed from ER visit
