Arkansas State goes 1-1 in the first half of the road trip against Southern Miss and Texas State
I’m about to drop a Knowledge Bomb: it’s tough to win on the road. The rim is smaller. The crowds are hostile. The floors are filled with mysterious dead spots. The referees hate you. The bus rides are long. The home team cheerleaders fire poison darts into your necks with blowguns. Craft services feed you sandwiches made in Chernobyl and water piped from Camp LeJune. These are all legit concerns.
The Red Wolves arrived to Southern Miss on Wednesday to face a program who is nearly unbeatable in Hattiesburg. Golden Eagles star guard Austin Crowley is averaging nearly 16 points per game – he’d put 25 on the board against A-State. This season has already seen Southern Miss take down two top tier SBC opponents: James Madison and (on Saturday) Troy. On Wednesday, the Golden Eagles would take down the sizzling-shooting Red Wolves.
The Red Wolves played well enough, shooting 41% from the three and committing a reasonable 10 turnovers. But with a final score of 69-66, the metric that stands out most is A-State’s abysmal free throw shooting – 10/17 for just 59%. The Golden Eagles weren’t great at the charity stripe either (76%) but they make the buckets when they counted most, which is in the game’s waning minutes. While the Red Wolves would make only one-of-two, Southern Miss was sealing both. Those shots proved to be the difference.
If you’re a Red Wolves fan, you probably have some beef with the officiating – an egregiously missed charge and an ignored foul beneath the rim as time expired hurt. The decision to milk time with just a one point lead with 90 seconds on the clock could be second-guessed too. After all, this team isn’t the kind that performs better tapping the brakes. Drive the lane, try to get the hoop and harm. (NOTE: I say this from my position on the couch.)
On Saturday, the Red Wolves entered San Marcos with notable handicaps in the rematch against Texas State. Big men Lado Laku and LaQuill Hardnett were left in Jonesboro due to illness. Seven minutes into the game, rising star Izaiyah Nelson left the game with a knee injury. Also missing, head coach Bryan Hodgson, whose was alongside his fiancé in anticipation of a child.
However, key scorer Freddy Hicks was back in the lineup after sustaining an injury several games ago against Belmont. Hicks would contribute a modest seven points and five rebounds, but the spiritual lift was substantial. The smaller line-up responded behind the three-point firepower of Avery Felts (17pts, 5/7 from long range) and 13 points from Julian Lual, the team’s remaining inside presence, resulting in a final score of 79-72.
Not even a man wearing a “I Love MILFs” t-shirt storming the court in a wheelchair during a free throw attempt from Caleb Fields could stop Arkansas State from handing Texas State another conference loss.
The Red Wolves road show travels to Louisiana next week, when A-State visits the Cajuns on Thursday and the Warhawks on Saturday.
Howlraiser 