Indiana’s 2024-25 season is just over a week away, and the Hoosiers are setting their expectations high after a flurry of offseason roster changes. Indiana won an exhibition game at Tennessee this past Sunday, hosts Marian in an exhibition Friday night at Assembly Hall, then prepares to tipoff the regular season against SIU-Edwardsville next Wednesday in Bloomington.
Ahead of Indiana’s 2024-25 season, IU head coach Mike Woodson joined host Don Fischer for his weekly radio show, ‘Inside IU Basketball’. Woodson discusses IU’s exhibition win at Tennessee, the Hoosiers’ offseason roster overhaul, his vision for a change in style of play and much more.
All notes and quotes are per Woodson, unless otherwise noted. Full show notes can be found below.
ON INDIANA’S EXHIBITION WIN AT TENNESSEE:
- “Before we took this game, the coaching staff told us (Tennessee coach) Rick Barnes wanted to play us in a pick-up game” … Assistants told Woodson, “They play hard,” which made Woodson think twice because of how new IU’s roster is.
- Woodson said he initially didn’t commit to the Tennessee exhibition. Spoke to Barnes during the summer at an AAU event and eventually committed to the game.
- “I thought the second half we loosened up a bit and weren’t so tight like we were coming into the game.”
- Woodson says IU scored 41 points in the second half, which he was really pleased with. Thinks if IU hovers around that number in both halves of games, the team will be in good shape.
- Woodson says Tennessee’s defense was a good, tough challenge: “We couldn’t move the ball side to side.”
- Woodson says he was pleased with IU’s defensive performance, especially on the road. Limited starting guards Chaz Lanier and Zakai Ziegler to low-scoring performances.
- Fischer notes IU trailed most of the game, but neither team pulled away by more than six points.
- “I think the biggest shot of the night was Malik’s 3(-pointer) at the top of the key, and once he made that we never looked back.”
- “When you add seven new faces, they’ve spent 14 weeks, basically, together playing basketball together, beating up on each other. It’s different when you play a real game, especially against a team like Tennessee.”
- Re: Individual standouts … Woodson says Malik Reneau was “really good,” is expecting a big jump from Reneau this season … “Myles (Rice) was who we thought he was in terms of running a basketball team and getting up and down the floor … “I’ve gotta get Kanaan (Carlyle) more comfortable.”
- Woodson says IU had 10 turnovers in the first half, but cut it down to three turnovers in the second half.
- Woodson says he needs to get the bench players more comfortable like Gabe Cupps and Luke Goode.
- Woodson says he charted eight open 3-pointers that Indiana missed, but he’s not concerned. Mentions he’s not worried about Luke Goode shooting 0-for-5 from 3-point range.
- “(Tennessee) pushed us to the limit.”
ON JAKAI NEWTON:
- “If we can get Jakai Newton healthy, he’s a big piece to the puzzle.”
- “The times that he’s been out there, there’s been some bright spots. He’s scrimmaged with us, and he performed really well. The talent is there and it’s scary.”
- Woodson says the biggest challenge with Newton is getting him to feel good physically for multiple days in a row. Hasn’t been able to string together multiple days of feeling good physically.
- Woodson says Newton’s knee is still bothering him a bit, so IU is trying to “slow-walk” him back.
- Woodson says he hopes Newton is feeling good enough Friday to get him in uniform and play him a little bit against Marian.
ON MYLES RICE:
- “He’s a good, young man that’s willing to accept coaching. That position is a tough position because everyone’s crying for the ball offensively, they want the ball. He can distribute it enough to keep everyone happy and still score on his own.”
- “I like everything about Myles because he’s very coachable and willing to learn and get better.”
- “He’s been used to being the guy where he can go out and get you 20, 25 points. And I’m trying to teach him to be more than just the guy. I’m trying to teach him to be team, too.”
ON KANAAN CARLYLE:
- “I think he’s still trying to find himself. He’s trying to pick his spots. I just gotta get him more comfortable.”
- Woodson says Carlyle “defended his butt off” against Tennessee.
- “He’s capable of having big nights, but I gotta get him more comfortable with his role.”
- “He’s got a chance to be pretty good for us.”
ON GABE CUPPS:
- “I think his overall game is much better than it was (as a freshman). He sees things better now.”
- “As a freshman, the things you got away with in high school you can’t get away with in college.”
- “I think he spent a ton of time this summer watching film, and once we got the team together he looked much better.”
ON MALIK RENEAU:
- Fischer says Reneau is “in the best shape of his life” and has taken the offseason “very serious.”
- “He’s eating right, he’s really taking care of his body now. That’s the key to longevity in this sport.”
- “I’m proud of him. We’ve just got to keep pushing him and giving him the confidence to get better because I think he has improved a lot.”
ON WOODSON’S VISION FOR STYLE OF PLAY:
- “There’s going to be nights where teams really force you to play small. And you’re either going to have Ballo with four small guys, or you’re going to have Malik and four smalls, or Hatton and four smalls.”
- Woodson says he feels good about playing smaller lineups this season.
- “In every scrimmage that we’ve charted, we’ve shot the three ball extremely well.”
- Woodson says Indiana is shooting between 27-30 threes in scrimmages and shooting around 37% from 3-point range.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
- “The beauty about when we put this team together, if we had injuries we can sustain it. And we’ve had two seasons where we had injuries and it cost us.”
- Woodson says Anthony Leal got dinged up against Tennessee, Kanaan Carlyle had to sit out a recent practice. Doesn’t think either guy will miss much time, if any.
- Re: Marian head coach Pat Knight returning to Assembly Hall … Woodson notes Marian AD Steve Downing gave Knight an opportunity to coach at Marian, which says a lot about IU basketball’s tight-knit community.
- Woodson says he thinks IU has several veterans (Trey Galloway, Oumar Ballo, Langdon Hatton, Luke Goode, Malik Reneau) who can lead and help mentor the younger players like Rice, Carlyle, Mgbako and others.
- Re: Luke Goode … “He is a (terrific leader). He really is.” … Woodson says with Illinois he gained a ton of winning experience and grew into a leadership role.
