D'Moi Hodge scoring outburst propels Missouri past Ole Miss

Missouri blew by Ole Miss on the road on Thursday night, with star guard D’Moi Hodge scoring 24 points as he helped pace the Tigers on a red hot night from 3-point range.

The Tigers connected on 16-of-30 3-point attempts on the evening, blowing by the Rebels despite some counter-punches by Ole Miss.

“I would say just confidence, knowing that we’ve been in a shooting slump lately the past couple games,” said Hodge, asked what the difference in shooting was on the evening in a postgame interview. “But just knowing that this is what we do, so we just kept confident and know that they were going to fall sometime.”

Fall they did on Tuesday evening.

Hodge finished with a game-high 24 points on the evening, banging down six 3-point attempts. Hodge, who followed coach Dennis Gates from Cleveland State, thinks Missouri is starting to understand what Gates is looking for.

The added chemistry of having multiple Cleveland State transfers helps.

“It was very important knowing that you’re going to play with some new guys,” Hodge said. “We actually let them know that coach Gates is one of the best coaches out here. He going to let you play confident and have fun. Just knowing that he lets you play your game and he don’t try to like stop you from doing anything, that’s the best thing about having coach Gates as a coach. He lets you play and have fun.”

D’Moi Hodge scoring not the only offensive outburst

While Hodge led the Tigers in scoring in the contest against the Rebels, Missouri State transfer Isiaih Mosley also got involved in the action.

He scored 20 and made four 3-pointers.

“I would say it means a lot, just knowing that we have multiple players that can come in the game and just play and have fun and do what they do,” Hodge said. “Having him back does give us an extra boost to win games and have fun as a team.”

Whatever the case, Missouri is looking like a potential NCAA Tournament team in Gates’ first season in charge. The Tigers are now 15-5 overall, with a 4-4 mark in SEC play.

The Tigers have now won two of their last three, in part because they’re understanding what Gates wants, especially defensively.

“We just try to guard 94 feet,” Hodge said. “Knowing that I have some quick hands and I move very fast, coach Gates allows me to take some gamble and play my style of defense. We’re trying to speed teams up and rely on turnovers, just being able to turn teams up and make them go faster than they want to.”

Mission accomplished on Tuesday night.