In what ended up being their biggest game of the season and could be looked at as a potentially turning point for Indiana, head coach Mike Woodson made one change to his starting lineup that might have been overlooked a bit, but ended up paying off ten-fold.
In Indiana's 71-67 win over No. 11 Michigan State, Woodson chose to bring star Malik Reneau off the bench instead of putting him in the starting lineup. While this may not seem like a big deal, it is something that worked well for the Hoosiers because in the past few games, when Ballo and Reneau were both on the court, it caused trouble for Indiana.
Woodson informed Reneau a day before the game that he would not be starting and following the game, he shared how his star forward took the news.
"I went to Malik [Reneau] a day ago and told him I wasn't going to start him and that was probably tough on him," Woodson said to NBC Sports after the game. "He elected to tell me 'Hey coach, I'm gonna do whatever you want me to do' and I thought he was huge off the bench for us."
It seemed Woodson's decision paid off as Reneau played a great game off the bench and finished as the Hoosier's leading scorer on the night with 19 points and added 12 rebounds as well for a double-double on the night. Woodson attributed a lot of Indiana's momentum to Reneau's ability to score on the block and coming back from a rough first half where he hit just one bucket.
Since coming back from his knee injury in early January that sidelined him for six games, the Miami, Florida native has some great games, but also some games where he really struggled. In his first game back, Reneau scored just two points in Indiana's loss to Indiana, but contributed well in his next game against Maryland with 10 points.
The next two games against Purdue and Wisconsin, both ranked opponents, Reneau scored a combined nine points and played a combined 25 minutes. However, Reneau has been the leading scorer for the Hoosiers in the last two games and was truly a difference maker for Indiana against Michigan State.
It is unknown whether or not Woodson will put Reneau back into the starting lineup for the rest of the season, but if not, he may be a huge weapon for Indiana off the bench.