COLUMN: Redhawks MBB show promise despite early season losses

Moral victories may not be something any coach or player cares to tally up.

But when you’re a college basketball team in a mid-major conference like Southeast Missouri State, the only way into March Madness is by winning the conference tournament title in March. So everything from here until conference play is about how improved and competitive a team looks.

Through four games, the winning isn’t there yet for the Redhawks, but this is a much-improved team than the previous season.

“We're just more talented across the board,“ SEMO head coach Brad Korn said.

Last year’s squad went through a transition period after losing much of their Ohio Valley Conference-winning squad in 2022-23. The Redhawks won only nine games as Indiana State transfer Rob Martin and freshman BJ Ward were finding their way.

“If I'm being honest, what happened when we faced adversity, it was, ‘it’s over, we lost,’” Korn said. “When you could really just fall apart and splinter and just lay down or go get your own because, ‘Oh, I see the board. I got 29 so I'm gonna go get 40.’ I haven't seen that from this group, and that's encouraging.”

The Redhawks have predictably lost their games against Bradley, Vanderbilt, and Chattanooga, one of which is of the SEC and the other two are successful mid-major programs. However, by playing close with the Tennessee schools, both single-digit losses, the Redhawks have shown their competitiveness early in the season.

Something that wasn’t there last year.

“If you don't have a cohesive group or guys are really worried about the right things, then you're losing by like 20,” Korn said.

This year, Martin, Ward, and newcomer Teddy Washington Jr. have formed a reliable scoring trio that seems primed to carry the Redhawks this year. Martin scored a career-high 29 points and was an inch away from a game-winning three-point basket on Sunday. Washington scored 25 points and a second consecutive double-double to boost his scoring average to 16.5 points per game. Ward has established himself as SEMO’s “Mr. Consistent” by scoring double-digit points in every game this season.

“I could score when needed but I can get my guys involved too,” Martin said. “I feel like it just helps me with my game to just dish the ball out and then score when needed.”

Instead of asking how far away they are, we’re asking how close they are from pulling out wins against those teams.

“It’s just the little things leading up to the last shot that we really got to fix,” Washington said, “and I think it would change the whole game.”

Those three combined to score 67 of the Redhawks' 82 points against the Mocs, which may be representative of the way the new roster is structured. Washington is the only Division I transfer in a recruiting class filled with junior college transfers.

That being said, the JUCO transfers have a role to play, and even if it may not be noticeable on the stat sheet, their impact is palpable to those who watch the game.

“It’s created depth to where we can hang around and have a chance to win a game like (Sunday),” Korn said. “This is a guy’s third year, so you’re talking about a 20-year-old versus a 17-year-old.”

One of the JUCO transfers who stood out on Sunday is 7-footer Elliot Lowndes, who had five rebounds and two blocks in just 19 minutes off the bench. SEMO recently signed a high school senior of similar height in Sikeston's Trace Sadler but it’s beneficial for the Redhawks to have someone of Lowndes’ size seemingly ready-made upon arrival.

“These are college-ready bodies,” Korn said. “So I see more from a physical standpoint … I think the learning curve of them going through these four games now is going to be a lot faster than a freshman.”

Three-point shooting may be the difference in the Redhawks getting over the hump. They shot as many threes as the Mocs on Sunday (26) in a five-point game and made only three less. Led by Ward’s 6-of-7 shooting from the arc, SEMO made nine more threes than Vanderbilt with the same number of shots. Had it not been for the overwhelming disparity at the charity stripe, we might have been talking about an upset.

“If you're going to be a good 3-point shooting team, a lot of other things got to happen too,” Korn said. “You’ve got to have guys that can pass it to a guy that can shoot it, and you also have the correct spacing and timing in order to get the shots on time, on target. So, anybody can just come down and shoot some 3s, but it doesn't much matter if it doesn't go in.”

The Redhawks travel to Central Arkansas to take on the Bears on Thursday, Nov. 21, and UNC Asheville on Friday. Last year, SEMO’s only win over a Division I opponent in non-conference play was against UCA, when the Redhawks had to claw back from a 12-point deficit.

The Redhawks were 1-14 on the road last year so at least splitting the road trip would go a long way in terms of progress.

“Every game we play is going to be tough,” Korn said. “There's just no game that we're just going to roll out of bed and win.”