SEMO hoops lands productive guard in Eric Reed Jr.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Howard College sophomore guard Eric Reed Jr. looks to score during a game for the Hawks this past season in Big Spring, Texas.

Photo courtesy of Howard College Athletics

When Brad Korn was hired as the men’s basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State last month, he didn’t mince words when it came to what he planned to build the Redhawk program upon.

He stated that the Redhawks would be “defined by the pillars and cornerstones of our program.”

Those tenets included: character, passion, accountability, unity, and thankfulness.

That message resonated with Howard (Texas) College sophomore guard Eric Reed Jr.

The junior college athlete was talented enough to have options (he was recently offered by Sam Houston State and New Orleans) on where to spend his final two seasons playing basketball and earning a degree, but he believed in Korn’s message – and his history – enough to commit to the Redhawks Wednesday.

“What made me feel comfortable with was Coach Korn,” Reed Jr. told Semoball.com Wednesday. “His credentials and the things that he was telling me, I really want to play for him.”

Reed has spent the past two seasons growing as a student-athlete and helped Howard to 34 wins over the past two seasons.

After starting just 14 of 25 games as a freshman, Howard utilized Reed Jr. as a starter in all 30 games this past season.

The native of Baton Rouge, La. averaged a team-high 15.7 points per game and dished out nearly three assists per game, but offense wasn’t what he felt the most affinity toward.

“I love defense,” Reed Jr. said. “I love it. That is probably one of the best aspects (of my game). I want to guard the best player.”

Despite being just 6-foot-2, Reed Jr. finished defensive possessions by grabbing a team-best five rebounds per game.

“For me, rebounding sets the tone for me being able to score,” Reed Jr. said. “Being a rebounding guard, it gives you the opportunity to go get tip-ins. It opens the game for you because now the defense has to not only worry about playing you off the dribble, they also have to box you out. Most players don’t like to box out.”

Reed Jr. considers himself a “combo guard,” who can generate offense or create offense for others.

He scored in double figures 27 times this season and topped 28 points in three separate games. However, Reed Jr. also had a season-best seven assists in one game.

“I consider myself more of a point guard,” Reed Jr. said. “But a lot of coaches have told me that they consider me a combo guard, because I can score the ball, but I’m not selfish. I find people up the court and can penetrate and kick.”

Reed Jr. joins a Southeast roster that has two point guards in sophomore-to-be DQ Nicholas and senior Oscar Kao.

Redshirt junior guard Chris Harris is more of a scorer, while redshirt sophomore Jordan Love and redshirt junior Nana Akenten are more athletic wings than distributors.

“My dream and vision is to have our team embody the spirit of Southeast Missouri,” Korn said. “And to have a prideful brand of basketball that everyone can relate to.”

The Redhawks now have eight scholarship players for the 2020-21 season, with five open scholarships.

Reed plans on studying either psychology or sport management.

“I’m not sure if basketball is ever going to leave me,” Reed Jr. said. “Whether it is me training kids or me being a coach, just being around basketball is like being at home.”

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Welcome to SEMO Eric! Please commit to help make SEMO mens basketball relevant in the OVC! We are begging for winning basketball and players committed to playing as a TEAM and not focused only on someday “playing in the NBA”.

-- Posted by indian73 on Wed, Apr 8, 2020, at 11:23 PM
Indian73, despite your hope, realize only SHSU and New Orleans were the only ones to extend offers at D1. Neither school have stellar programs. Have to look at facts and not a glorified article.

-- Posted by RaiderRed on Thu, Apr 9, 2020, at 6:12 PM
RaiderRed at this point SEMO not going to get many elite players...remember Ja Morant was not heavily recruited and ended up at Murray...the rest is history...never know how “any” recruit may turn out! But I am optimistic about SEMO new direction/leadership.

-- Posted by indian73 on Thu, Apr 9, 2020, at 8:30 PM
RaiderRed, he actually had eight D1 offers - SEMO, Albany, New Orleans, Sam Houston, Utah Valley, Incarnate Word, Mt. St. Marys and NJIT all offered him. Granted not power houses but all D1 teams. Other than the Nebraska transfer, Nana Akenten, we don't have anyone else on the current roster with that many D1 offers. So not a bad signing.

-- Posted by mick158 on Sun, Apr 12, 2020, at 3:39 PM
One more note I saw another article where addition to those eight schools named in my last post that offered him, this article also mentioned Texas Southern, UMass-Lowell, Maryland Eastern Shore and UC Davis and others as also recruiting him. So we know he had more than twelve schools recruiting him and at least twelve who were D1 recruiting him and at least eight D1 schools that offered him.

-- Posted by mick158 on Mon, Apr 13, 2020, at 9:46 AM
So, mick, every school mentioned is at the same level as semo. They are all lower level Division I schools. Which really brings up the issue that there are many lower level schools, like semo, more suited for Div. 2. In fact, 200 schools should go back to Div 2. There is a major difference between saying Div 1 and being Div 1.

-- Posted by RaiderRed on Tue, Apr 14, 2020, at 12:12 PM
About 25 years ago Gonzaga, Butler, Wichita State, Creighton, Dayton, Xavier, etc. were all considered lower level D1 schools that somebody could have said are not in the same class as the power conference schools and are wasting their time playing at this level. Now in the last few years they are consistent Top 25 programs with Final Four chances. I don't see what's wrong with having a lot of D1 teams trying to work their way up from the lower tier to the bigger stage. Having a tournament that includes teams from smaller D1 conferences given the chance to compete against the big boys in the NCAA tourney if they win their conference is what makes college basketball so cool. I was more excited watching SEMOs mens basketball team play LSU in the first round of the NCAA D1 tournament than I was watching them play in the two D2 National Championship games that I witnessed. SEMO right now is a school that has a volleyball team, womens soccer team, baseball team, womens basketball team, mens and womens track teams and womens gymnastics team all competing well enough to go to their respective NCAA D1 tourneys or meets and a football team good enough to participate in the FCS playoff. Why would they want their men's basketball team to participate in D2? Doesn't make much sense to me.

-- Posted by mick158 on Tue, Apr 14, 2020, at 3:01 PM

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