Indiana University Athletics
Monday, November 7
Bloomington, Ind.
7:00 PM
Indiana University
vs
Morehead State
Championship Quest – Indiana Opens Season with Morehead State
11/7/2022 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – And so it begins.
All the Indiana basketball expectations, all the work and planning and preparation, leads to this, Monday night's regular season opener against Morehead State.
Will it end with a championship?
Coach Mike Woodson has made it clear, again and again, that's the goal.
"I'm looking to push these guys to the max, and see what happens," he says.
Those guys, led by All-America forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and veterans Race Thompson and Xavier Johnson, have earned preseason top-15 national status and Big Ten favorite honors.
Potential guarantees nothing, suggests everything. Saint Francis coach Chad LaCross got an up-close view of that during his team's 104-59 Thursday night exhibition loss to the Hoosiers.
"I love their team," he says. "I love how hard they play and defend. With their size, strength and athleticism, it's just tough to score, especially with our size.
"Coach Woodson does a great job. He has talented players. They are really deep. They can continue to go to their bench. There's just no let up."
A big key is Johnson. The senior has yet to find last March's form, when he played as well as any Big Ten point guard. In the two exhibitions, he was 5-for-19 from the field, 0-for-7 from 3-point range, for a combined 12 points, six assists and five turnovers.
Figure those struggles won't last. Johnson has, after all, totaled 1,565 points and 587 assists in four previous college seasons with career averages of 13.3 points and 3.7 rebounds.
Woodson talked to him after the Saint Francis game. The main messages -- don't press, slow down.
"I told Xavier, you don't have to do it all this year. We've got enough pieces that you can just do your part and not have to stress out about thinking you have to do everything.
"There are going to be nights when X is going to explode offensively and have big games. There will be nights that might not happen. But he's still got to be Xavier Johnson. He's still got to defend. He's still got to get the ball where it's got to go and set us up, break press defenses.
"I think he's playing too fast. I've got to slow him down and get him in a good frame of mind."
Freshmen will have major impact, especially guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and forward Malik Reneau, although guard C.J. Gunn and forward Kaleb Banks also will be factors.
"There's no surprise on our end," senior forward Miller Kopp says. "We've seen what they can do. They compete their butts off.
"We trust them. They're learning a lot more every day, so we're in a good spot."
The 6-6 Hood-Schifino, who started both exhibitions, has been the most impressive. In the two exhibitions, he averaged 13.0 points (making 11-of-16 shots), 4.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds.
Reneau, who teamed with Hood-Schifino to win a pair of national high school titles at Mount Verde Academy, has seen this before.
"What you can expect from Jalen Hood-Schifino is a leader, someone that's going to be there every day working hard every day and ready to go," he says. "He has a pro bag. He gets to his spots. He's a very impressive player."
The 6-8 Reneau also impresses. He averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the exhibitions while making 14-of-18 shots. He started against Marian University because Jackson-Davis was banged up.
"There's no surprise because Coach has a lot of trust in Malik," Kopp says. "We believe in him, too."
As far as Hood-Schifino and Reneau, Woodson says, "They've been solid. They're doing all the things that we've been working on for the last four and a half, five months.
"I always felt if you develop good habits in practice, it can be a nice carryover for you into games. That's what's happening to these two guys."
Gunn has averaged 7.5 points and made three three-pointers in the exhibitions.
"He played well," Woodson says, "but he made a lot of mistakes from a defensive standpoint. You expect that from freshmen. I get it.
"I've just got to get him to understand every possession counts. It's important. You can take possessions off in high school and get away with it, but the talent level is too steep in the college game."
As for Morehead State, it projects to win the Ohio Valley Conference. It has won 23 games in each of the last two seasons. It returns four players from last year while bringing in 11 newcomers, including Illinois State standout Mark Freeman, who was picked to the preseason All-OVC team.
This is part of a challenging non-conference schedule highlighted by top-ranked North Carolina, defending national champion Kansas, top-25 Arizona and highly regarded Xavier.
"We've got a big task ahead of us," Woodson says. "We've got to get 17 players playing at a high level.
"Our schedule is very competitive. You can't run from or be scared of it. This is what college basketball is all about."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – And so it begins.
All the Indiana basketball expectations, all the work and planning and preparation, leads to this, Monday night's regular season opener against Morehead State.
Will it end with a championship?
Coach Mike Woodson has made it clear, again and again, that's the goal.
"I'm looking to push these guys to the max, and see what happens," he says.
Those guys, led by All-America forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and veterans Race Thompson and Xavier Johnson, have earned preseason top-15 national status and Big Ten favorite honors.
Potential guarantees nothing, suggests everything. Saint Francis coach Chad LaCross got an up-close view of that during his team's 104-59 Thursday night exhibition loss to the Hoosiers.
"I love their team," he says. "I love how hard they play and defend. With their size, strength and athleticism, it's just tough to score, especially with our size.
"Coach Woodson does a great job. He has talented players. They are really deep. They can continue to go to their bench. There's just no let up."
A big key is Johnson. The senior has yet to find last March's form, when he played as well as any Big Ten point guard. In the two exhibitions, he was 5-for-19 from the field, 0-for-7 from 3-point range, for a combined 12 points, six assists and five turnovers.
Figure those struggles won't last. Johnson has, after all, totaled 1,565 points and 587 assists in four previous college seasons with career averages of 13.3 points and 3.7 rebounds.
Woodson talked to him after the Saint Francis game. The main messages -- don't press, slow down.
"I told Xavier, you don't have to do it all this year. We've got enough pieces that you can just do your part and not have to stress out about thinking you have to do everything.
"There are going to be nights when X is going to explode offensively and have big games. There will be nights that might not happen. But he's still got to be Xavier Johnson. He's still got to defend. He's still got to get the ball where it's got to go and set us up, break press defenses.
"I think he's playing too fast. I've got to slow him down and get him in a good frame of mind."
Freshmen will have major impact, especially guard Jalen Hood-Schifino and forward Malik Reneau, although guard C.J. Gunn and forward Kaleb Banks also will be factors.
"There's no surprise on our end," senior forward Miller Kopp says. "We've seen what they can do. They compete their butts off.
"We trust them. They're learning a lot more every day, so we're in a good spot."
The 6-6 Hood-Schifino, who started both exhibitions, has been the most impressive. In the two exhibitions, he averaged 13.0 points (making 11-of-16 shots), 4.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds.
Reneau, who teamed with Hood-Schifino to win a pair of national high school titles at Mount Verde Academy, has seen this before.
"What you can expect from Jalen Hood-Schifino is a leader, someone that's going to be there every day working hard every day and ready to go," he says. "He has a pro bag. He gets to his spots. He's a very impressive player."
The 6-8 Reneau also impresses. He averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the exhibitions while making 14-of-18 shots. He started against Marian University because Jackson-Davis was banged up.
"There's no surprise because Coach has a lot of trust in Malik," Kopp says. "We believe in him, too."
As far as Hood-Schifino and Reneau, Woodson says, "They've been solid. They're doing all the things that we've been working on for the last four and a half, five months.
"I always felt if you develop good habits in practice, it can be a nice carryover for you into games. That's what's happening to these two guys."
Gunn has averaged 7.5 points and made three three-pointers in the exhibitions.
"He played well," Woodson says, "but he made a lot of mistakes from a defensive standpoint. You expect that from freshmen. I get it.
"I've just got to get him to understand every possession counts. It's important. You can take possessions off in high school and get away with it, but the talent level is too steep in the college game."
As for Morehead State, it projects to win the Ohio Valley Conference. It has won 23 games in each of the last two seasons. It returns four players from last year while bringing in 11 newcomers, including Illinois State standout Mark Freeman, who was picked to the preseason All-OVC team.
This is part of a challenging non-conference schedule highlighted by top-ranked North Carolina, defending national champion Kansas, top-25 Arizona and highly regarded Xavier.
"We've got a big task ahead of us," Woodson says. "We've got to get 17 players playing at a high level.
"Our schedule is very competitive. You can't run from or be scared of it. This is what college basketball is all about."
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