Indiana basketball vs. St. Francis exhibition: Six takeaways for IUBB
Indiana basketball won their second, and last, exhibition game of the preseason 104-59 against Saint Francis (IN) on November 3, with 19 points from Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The Hoosiers got off to a slow start, with the game being tied 11-11 early in the first half. But after that, the Indiana offense took off. It was 53-24 at halftime and the Hoosiers shot 66.67 percent from the field in the half and 40.0 percent from deep.
Overall, Indiana shot 65.2 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from beyond the arc while making 7-of-19 three-pointers. Although it wasn’t a terrific three-point shooting performance, there were glimpses that showed what the offense could look like in pure form with Jalen Hood-Schifino running the point, surrounded by two great big men like Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson.
Highlighting the offense can only go so far, but the defense did show many weaknesses against an NAIA program that had their tallest player check-in at 6-foot-8. The Hoosiers allowed Saint Francis to grab 13 offensive rebounds compared to just nine registered by Indiana. In a Division I matchup against bigger players, the Hoosiers cannot allow such a discrepancy if they want any chance to be successful this season, especially in the Big Ten.
As a whole, many things stood out to me watching this game, but here are my six takeaways from the last exhibition game before the season really starts on Monday:
Six takeaways from Indiana basketball exhibition win vs. Saint Francis
#6. Malik Reneau is going to be very dangerous off the bench for the Hoosiers
Malik Reneau showed out again as he stepped on the floor against Saint Francis off the bench with the return of Trayce Jackson-Davis. Reneau put up 15 points and nine rebounds, on 7-of-8 shooting from the field in 20 minutes of action.
Reneau looks like a guy that has played three or more years of college basketball already. Yes, he’s going up against guys smaller than him in the post, but in real games, he is going to be facing the backups of many of these teams and he will easily be able to go to work for this bench unit.
Two games in an Indiana Hoosiers uniform and Reneau has totaled the following: 38 minutes, 29 points, 19 rebounds, 14/18 (77.8 percent) FG, and three blocks. He started the first game and came off the bench in the second, but averaging 19.0 minutes, 14.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in two exhibition games isn’t too shabby for a guy that is backing up one of the best players in the country.