Christian Harmon scored 21 points on 5-7 three-point shooting as the Arkansas State Red Wolves (8-4, 1-0 SBC) dominated the Texas State Bobcats (7-6, 0-1 SBC) 89-70 Wednesday night at Strahan Arena.
The Bobcats struggled with the aggressiveness and physicality of the Red Wolves on both ends of the floor in their first taste of Sun Belt Conference play this season.
The loss was Texas State’s fourth in five games and their first at Strahan Arena this season, as the 89 points scored by the Red Wolves were the most the Bobcats have allowed this season.
“The reality of it is we got our butts kicked,” said head coach Terrance Johnson. “We scored 70 points today; we’ve won most of our games not even scoring 70 points. So you want to know what the problem was? They scored 89.”
It was clear in this conference matchup that toughness was going to be key, as the physical nature of the game was evident in the first few possessions and would continue throughout.
Arkansas State set the tone early on and an extremely hot night shooting the three proved difficult to defend. The Red Wolves shot 12/22 on threes compared to 3/11 for the Bobcats.
“When you allow them to be tough, you give them confidence,” said Johnson. “So, we never met force with force, so their confidence was through the roof. That’s all you need when you’ve given them the freedom to shoot that many threes.”
To top it all off, Texas State was also dominated in the rebound game, getting outrebounded 39-23.
The Red Wolves led by nine at halftime and stretched that lead to 17 early in the second half. Every time the Bobcats cut the deficit to around 10 points, the Red Wolves countered with a score of their own, usually a three-pointer.
Freshman forward DJ Hall led the way for the Bobcats with 15 points and added seven rebounds and three steals. However, his partner in the frontcourt was a point of emphasis for Johnson after the game.
Senior center Makai Willis only played eight minutes and didn’t score a point as senior Tay Knox and freshman Robert Fields would take over center duties for most of the game after Willis was pulled early.
Willis has been the starting center all season, but has seen his minutes fluctuate, frequently playing less than Knox or even Fields.
“I think Makai [Willis] is a talented player,” said Johnson. “Where we run into issues with him is consistently embracing physicality. For us to be good, he’s going to have to be better.”
Senior guard Mark Drone scored 14 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds and Kyndall Davis scored 13 points, but there was a noticeable absence from the backcourt as junior guard Dimp Pernell was not in the lineup for the second straight game.
Pernell is averaging almost nine points a game with an efficient 47% field goal percentage and 40% three-point percentage.
“Hopefully this [loss] was a humbling experience,” Johnson said. His team will have to step up the physicality and toughness if they want to have success in their final year in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Bobcats will look to rebound for their first conference victory this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when they host the South Alabama Jaguars at Strahan Arena. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
