The injury bug has not been kind to Indiana basketball during its recent stretch in of Ten play. First, it was starting junior forward Malik Reneau who suffered an apparent right knee injury Jan. 2 and has not played in the Hoosiers’ last five games. Then, it was freshman guard Bryson Tucker who was forced to miss IU’s win at Ohio State due to an undisclosed injury.

With two of IU’s main rotation players’ injury statuses uncertain, Indiana could be short-handed once again when they play at Northwestern on Wednesday night. Ahead of the game, IU coach Mike Woodson addressed Reneau and Tucker’s injury in a Tuesday media availability session.

“A lot is going to depend on Malik today,” Woodson said. “He worked some yesterday. Tucker worked a little yesterday. So I’ll just gauge it today. We’ve got a (noon) practice before we take off (for Northwestern), so I’ll get a better feel for where Malik and Bryson is at this point.”

With Reneau out for nearly three weeks, Indiana has turned to senior Luke Goode to fill the starting lineup void. The former Illinois transfer over the last five games is averaging 13.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 31 minutes per game while shooting 52.0 percent from 3-point range.

Goode has been an integral piece of Indiana’s perimeter shooting this season and an outspoken team leader. He scored a career-high 25 points and played a career-high 41 minutes in IU’s overtime win at Ohio State.

However, once Reneau is ready to return to the court it will leave Woodson with a difficult decision to make: reinsert Reneau back into the starting lineup, or keep Goode in the starting lineup and shuffle around other pieces?

“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet as far as that’s concerned,” Woodson said.

With Tucker out against Ohio State, along with Reneau, it forced Indiana to shorten its rotation and use just three players off the bench. Normally Tucker is one of IU’s first bench substitutions when healthy, but his absence placed significantly more importance on IU’s four healthy guards: Myles Rice, Trey Galloway, Kanaan Carlyle, Anthony Leal.

Tucker has played in 18 games this season, all off the bench, and is averaging 6.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 18.3 minutes per game. The former McDonald’s All-American and five-star recruit is shooting 37.9 percent from the field, 1-of-16 from 3-point range and 73.3 percent at the free throw line. 

Indiana plays at Northwestern at 7 p.m ET on Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

The Hoosiers are 14-5 overall and 5-3 in Big Ten play. In the NET rankings, IU currently sits at No. 61 nationally with a 2-5 record against Quadrant-1 opponents and 12-0 against the rest of its opponents.