‘Dominate simple’: SEMO MBB's offense too much as Redhawks top Kansas City 80-59

SEMO men's basketball senior Teddy Washington Jr. drives up the lane against Kansas City on Saturday, Nov. 30. The transfer guard finished with a career-high 28 points to earn his sixth straight game with double figures.

Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

If Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball proved one thing Saturday night, it’s that they have a plethora of guys who can score. The Redhawks used that depth to win their third game of the regular season.

Or as head coach Brad Korn calls it, a team effort.

Four Redhawks scored double-digits, as SEMO led Kansas City wire-to-wire in a commanding 80-59 win at the Show Me Center.

“I thought it was about as complete a game as you can play,” Korn said. “Offensively, we were getting paint touches and played well, but I thought our defense was the best it's been in a long time. We were connected. We were in gaps where we were supposed to be. We didn't have too many breakdowns. And then on top of that, I thought we rebounded the ball really well for the first time in a long time.”

Teddy Washington Jr. had a career-high 28 points — his sixth straight game with double digits — and bombed away from the perimeter by pouring in seven 3s. Forward Brendan Terry dropped 14 and junior Troy Cole Jr. finished with 13.

Junior guard Braxton Stacker also made his season debut, chipping in 10 points on 3 of 8 shooting — as him and the Redhawks wore out the Kangaroos as each minute ticked by.

“It was huge,” said Terry on Stacker’s return. “Personally, it’s more than just him being a good basketball player. He’s just fun to be around. When he got his first bucket, you can see me smiling, being all happy, you know? I mean, he keeps going.”

Even in the early stages, it was a complete rout for SEMO (3-4), as Kansas City (4-5) looked out of sorts trying to handle the Redhawks’ hot-shooting offense. SEMO led as much as 30-9 at the 15-minute mark and did everything they could to make life difficult on the Roos, forcing nine turnovers and converting them into points (12) on the other end. Kansas City also shot a mere 23% from the field in the first half as it trailed 40-21 at the break.

The Redhawks controlled the pace into the second half with their crafty offense, outshooting Kansas City 33-to-24 and often letting the shot clock run into single digits before firing away.

The Roos never came near closing the gap, as SEMO — usually Washington Jr. and Cole Jr., who posted a combined 25 points in the second half — always seemed to muster an answer.

“My guys just kept finding me,” Washington Jr. said. “I was in the right spot at the right time. Like, I was just taking the open shots. Gotta give a lot of credit to my guys.”

SEMO’s strong defensive performance was highlighted by a season-high 39 rebounds, marking the first time this season that Korn’s squad outrebounded a Division I opponent (39-33).

“Our guys made a conscious effort to defend with energy and connectedness,” Korn said. “We just rebounded the basketball, which really, I think, demoralized them early in the first half. They got frustrated because they couldn't get anywhere that they wanted to go, but it was because we were in the right spots.”

Big Picture

A week off from a two-game stretch in Conway, Arkansas, the Redhawks showed no sign of regression against a Kansas City program that coasted by SEMO 74-44 last season.

After shooting a season-low 34.9% (22-of-63) from the field against UNC Asheville, SEMO responded by netting 45% of its shots on Saturday against the Summit League’s top-rated defense, swiftly passing and driving lanes all night long. In fact, the Redhawks had one of their most efficient nights of the season even with second-leading scorer BJ Ward shooting 0 of 9 from the field.

Losing record aside, this team’s recent ascension and ability to turn up the intensity will serve them well going forward, especially when conference play rolls around.

“Honestly, outside of Bradley, we’re right there,” Terry said. “Like, against Vandy, in those first three quarters of that game, we were playing phenomenal ball. So, we knew it was always there. It was just put in the full 40 minutes, and Coach Korn has been saying a lot of that too. And today we showed we can do that.”

What's next?

SEMO will return to the court on Thursday, Dec. 5, when Korn’s squad travels to Nashville, Tenn. for a matchup against Lipscomb at 11 a.m.

“I've been watching and looking at a lot of Coach (Nick) Saban stuff,” Korn said. “He said he was harder on his guys after they won just to fight the poison. We're off tomorrow — they earned that off-day — and then we'll just get back to the basics. We’ve got a saying in our program: “dominate simple.” I thought tonight, both sides of the ball we dominated simple. So, on Monday in practice, we're just gonna have to dominate simple again.”