To Be More Specific, I’ve Been Eagerly Awaiting This Rematch

Last year’s tangle with the Trojans of Little Rock came during an uneasy time in Bryan Hodgson’s young tenure at Arkansas State. The Red Wolves rolled into the capital city with a 2-5 record and had just been ingloriously defeated at home by Jackson State. The team, for lack of a less clichéd term, had yet to gel. The players played fast, sure, but without control. The three-pointer, essential to the Hodgson Offensive Philosophy, wasn’t falling. Fresh imports like Derrian Ford and Freddie Hicks seemed unsure of their roles, and young Izaiyah Nelson was more likely to foul-out than ball-out. Fans (including myself) who entered the season with radioactively high expectations wondered if the hype was prematurely generated. After all, basketball in Jonesboro is cursed.

However, nothing cures A-State basketball malaise more effectively than a meeting with the UA Little Rock Trojans, an ancient foe that had just been unceremoniously rejected by the Sun Belt. The Trojans had this indignity to avenge as well as the hundreds of real and imagined slights every rival accrues. This might explain the fireball intensity with which the Trojans attacked the Red Wolves from opening tip to the closing horn. By game’s end, Trojans were high-fiving themselves on a 77-66 victory marked by some physically aggressive play that left the team’s only true point guards, Terrence Ford and Caleb Fields, out of commission.

Listen, if you want to get a rise out of Coach Hodgson, mention the Trojan game. The hard play (an uncalled foul) that took Fields out clearly ruffles him to this day. The Red Wolves had entered halftime of the game with a slim lead, but losing Ford (who’d find himself shelved by injury for the remainder of the year) and Fields proved disastrous, leaving the field general’s role to Taryn Todd, who admirably assumed the position despite his inexperience. The Trojans took advantage of the experience vacuum in the second half, forcing an avalanche of turnovers that eventually buried the Red Wolves.

On Tuesday evening, the Trojans will find today’s Red Wolves a much different team. Terrence Ford has returned, with every knock on wood dedicated to the young sophomore’s enduring health. Todd, still a maestro for creating a shot, has honed his floor management abilities thanks to the experience granted by Field’s absence. The team has gelled, with veterans knowing their roles, and the team was been fortified by a number of new, high-value additions. Nelson, who shed his penchant for fouls and became the conference’s most feared shot blocker, has yet to even play this season thanks to a minor foot injury, but the paint is exceedingly well projected by Rashaud Marshall in Nelson’s stead. Nelson may be back Tuesday night.

Derrian Ford has sharpened his game, confidently charging the hoop with a nifty lay-up scoop. The three point attack is augmented by the arrival of Joseph Pinion, who bears the team’s most natural long-shot stroke. Newcomer Kobe Julien is a an absolute tank in the paint who can make you pay with an outside shot. Freshmen Justin Johnson and Josh Hill are just too good to bench. The team is deeper than a Jack Handy thought.

The biggest difference may be Coach Hodgson himself – a season wiser, well-acclimated as a head coach and a newly minted father, having celebrated the arrival of a baby boy in the off season. Like last year, he’ll meet the Trojans coming off a loss – this time a road battle with #2 Alabama that revealed the Red Wolves to be anyone’s formidable foe. Coach Hodgson is in a good place right now. Is he still aggravated by last year’s loss to the Trojans? Go ahead and ask him!

Photo Credit: Michael Wade