Tuesday night’s win over a surging Southern Miss team revealed a resiliency in the Red Wolves that was lacking in previous games. Down four points in the game’s waning minutes, Arkansas State kept their heads, remained true to the game plan, and bore into the Golden Eagles with relentless defense and a hefty dose of fouls drawn by the industructible Joey Chammaa.

Counting the win over Division II Christian Brothers (which I do not, but I can be a bit of a bastard), a victory on Friday over the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns would represent Pannone’s 20th as head coach at Arkansas State, equal to Grant McCasland one and one year, and better first-year efforts than put up by Bryan Hodgson, Mike Balado, Dickey Nutt or even the legendary Nelson Catalina.

When the Cajuns (10-20) arrive to Jonesboro on Friday, Ryan Pannone will have an opportunity to lay a solid plank upon the foundation of his legacy – and he’ll do so with a team that just met a few months ago. He will have accomplished it without a true star on the court (Red Wolves is more a team of collaborators), and he will have done so by delivering the program’s most single season road wins in team history.

It’s no small thing. When Hodgson departed, so did the entire roster, scattered to the winds. Pannone put his head down and cobbled together his team, unearthing underused players from Florida State and Ole Miss, enticing guys from UTA and Stephen F. Austin, and attracting talent from London,  Guinea, and Paris. It was a Team of Unknowns, united in Jonesboro where basketball is regarded with the passion of a secret sect.

Somehow, it has worked. It wasn’t smooth, nor was it easy. The loss to SMU was a clinic in terrible basketball. The collapse against Rice set our teeth to gnash. The inability to solve South Alabama continues to haunt the program. And yet, the ever unflappable Ryan Pannone continued to doodle on his clipboard, exuding a calmness that could be mistaken for coma. Unlike Hodgson, a man who would likely eat a brick on a dare, Pannone rarely allows emotion to govern. When Christian Harmon began the season missing his first twenty three-point attempts, he didn’t panic. He just let the marksman adjust his sights. When seven-foot-something Aly Tounkara seemed lost in the paint, he gave the big man more minutes to learn his craft. Struggle is baked into the plan. Just set the oven to 350º and let the team cook.

The Red Wolves close out the regular season against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns on Friday in Jonesboro.

IMAGE IS MY OWN