Menu
SEMO MBB coach looking for a Redhawk 'to emerge on this team'
Monday, November 20, 2023
Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Brad Korn speaks with his starting five prior to the tip-off at Butler in Indianapolis recently.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com
Fourth-year Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn had some degree of positive expectations entering this season, most of which have not come to fruition as of yet.
The Redhawks have lost each of their three games by at least 19 points, and the newly assembled group (as every team in college basketball tends to be) doesn’t seem to have an identity.
“Someone has to emerge on this team,” Korn said following a recent 19-point loss to Evansville in the Show Me Center. “We can’t just sit there, and hope, and wait for Dylan Branson to come back to be the emotional, spiritual, whatever kind of leader that you want to call it.”
SEMO (0-3) will host Central Arkansas (1-3) tonight at the Show Me Center at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+), and Korn has pleaded with his players to play “connected” basketball.
“We can’t just wait around and look at each other,” Korn said. “Someone has to take that (leadership role) on.
“The coaches can’t play.”
Branson is a junior guard who has more experience within the program than any other Redhawk athlete. However, he has a broken right foot and is not expected to return for at least a couple more weeks.
In his absence, only one SEMO player (redshirt sophomore forward Adam Larson) is averaging double figures, and he is only averaging 15.4 minutes per game.
“We’ve got to get something out of somebody in practice,” Korn said, “and have that carry over into the game.”
Korn is projected to roll out the same starting lineup as he has in the previous three games, which includes guards Rob Martin (sophomore), Aquan Smart (junior), TJ Biel (junior), wing Braxton Stacker (sophomore), and post Josh Earley (senior), with Smart and Earley being the most experienced players. However, Earley has scored a combined six points in his last two games and is averaging just three rebounds per game, thus far.
In the case of Smart, he has nearly twice as many turnovers (11) this season as he does assists (six).
“You’ve got to look yourself in the mirror,” Korn said, “and that is not just the players, who have to play and produce, but also us, as a staff.
“I’ve got to find five guys who want to (lead) consistently. That is where we are. That is the harsh reality.”
Korn had thoughts prior to this season that this group would be a significant improvement defensively from last year’s team, but the Redhawks are allowing the opposition to shoot over 50 percent from the field.
In addition, SEMO has gotten to the free throw line 28 fewer times than its foes, and Korn’s kids are connecting at a miserable 46.7 percent from the line.
The Redhawks have been outrebounded on average by nearly nine rebounds per game and have committed 50 turnovers compared to just 37 assists.
“We can sugarcoat everything and (talk about) ‘Oh, they’re great kids,’” Korn continued, “but we know. At the end of the day, this isn’t SEMO basketball. This isn’t (like) last year. It’s not (like) the year before. This is not (like) everything that we have worked for in trying to build this program.
“It’s not panic mode. It is reality mode.”
Following tonight’s game, the Redhawks will, strangely enough, play Evansville again, only this time in the Coke Zero Sugar Classic tournament in Chattanooga on Saturday at 1 p.m.