BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After the Indiana men’s basketball team beat Tennessee 66-62 in a charity exhibition game in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sunday, Indiana coach Mike Woodson, hosted his first radio show of the season on Monday.

On the Inside Indiana Basketball Show, held at Hoosier Hank’s East restaurant on College Mall Road in Bloomington, Woodson addressed the subject of Indiana’s injured guards — Jakai Newton and Trey Galloway.

Newton, who arrived as a freshman in the summer of 2023, has never played a single game for Indiana. Slowed primarily by a knee injury, but with other injury-related setbacks along the way, the Georgia native hasn’t had a chance to practice much for the Hoosiers, much less play.

However, Woodson noted that Newton has shined in the practice appearances he has been able to make.

“I tell you the times he’s been out there, man, there’s been some positives,” Woodson told show host Don Fischer.

“He played with us several times and played extremely well. We could see that the talent is there. I mean, it’s scary, it really is,” Woodson continued.

Unfortunately, Newton hasn’t yet been able to get healthy enough to be on track to enter the playing rotation.

“We can’t seem to keep him healthy to where he can practice every day, finish practice and feel good the next day,” Woodson said. “It’s going to be a challenge during the season. There are still enough pieces around them that we can wait until he is actually healthy.

Woodson said Newton has overcome a hamstring injury, but his knee, which he had surgery on in August 2023, is still bothersome.

This is also true for Galloway. Indiana’s athletic training staff has been cautious as Galloway has recovered from offseason surgery to repair his meniscus. Galloway did not play at Tennessee on Sunday and did not participate in Hoosier Hysteria on October 18.

“He trained today. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. We have tomorrow off, but then we come back Wednesday and Thursday, then we play Marian on Friday. Hopefully he’ll be in uniform Friday and play a little bit,” Woodson said.

Galloway has played in 108 career games with the Hoosiers, starting 66 games, including 56 over the past two seasons.

Woodson said Anthony Leal and Kanaan Carlyle were exhausted during the Tennessee game. Carlyle did not participate in Monday’s practice, but Woodson said he is confident both players should be fine moving forward. Woodson did not provide an update on Bryson Tucker, who also missed Tennessee’s scrimmage.

Other highlights from Woodson’s radio show Monday:

• Woodson noted that Malik Reneau, who had 21 points and 8 rebounds against Tennessee on Sunday, stood out the most among individual Hoosiers. Woodson expects Reneau, a junior, to take a leap forward in his game. Ditto for sophomore Mackenzie Mgbako, who had 12 points against the Volunteers.

“Malik took a big step forward last year from his freshman year, didn’t he? So you have to expect him to make another jump this year, with Mackenzie as well, he took a heck of a jump as a freshman,” Woodson said.

• Woodson once again talked about playing a different offensive style in the 2024-25 season. He wants the Hoosiers to play faster, but he acknowledged that could mean more turnovers. Woodson said he was happy that Indiana had three turnovers in the second half and that they had 10 giveaways in the first half.

Woodson also explained the different combinations he can put on the ground.

“There will be nights where teams will force you to really play small. Either you’re going to have Ballo with four smaller guys. Are you going to have Malik and four little ones? Or (Langdon) Hatton and four little ones? Teams are going to force you to do that and I feel good playing that way,” Woodson said.

Woodson said Indiana will make more 3-point shots. He said the Hoosiers didn’t show it when they took 19 against defensive-minded Tennessee on Sunday. Indiana was 4 of 19 from 3-point range after the Hoosiers missed their first 11 3-point attempts to start the game.

“In all of our scrimmages that we’ve had, we’ve shot three-balls extremely well and we’ve made between 27 and 33 threes and we’ve shot 37 percent,” Woodson said.

• Woodson talked about practicing against Pat Knight, who will bring his Marian team to Bloomington Friday at 7 p.m. for Indiana’s second exhibition contest. Knight played at Indiana and is the son of Bob Knight.

“Steve Downing, who was one of Knight’s first players, an All-American player, is the AD at Marian and he gave Pat the opportunity to come in and coach. That says a lot about our Hoosier family,” Woodson said.

• In a lighter moment, Woodson explained his fandom for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees. When the crowd learned he was a Cowboys fan, there was a murmur of disapproval.

“Wait a minute, wait!” When I left Indiana, the Colts came to town, so I didn’t have a football team growing up. So the Cowboys were my team,” Woodson said.

He’s right. Woodson left Indiana State to begin his NBA career in 1980. The Colts didn’t move to Indianapolis until 1984.

When he revealed he was a Yankees fan, the boos were much louder.

“I never went to a baseball game until my first year in the NBA and I became a huge Yankees fan because that was my first game,” Woodson explained. “They gave me my first game against the Yankees where I got to throw it (the first pitch) and I got to have dinner with Reggie Jackson after the game.”

• The next Inside Indiana Basketball show is November 18.