THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9512020731
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Old Dominion's Odell Hodge has looked forward to playing Southern Illinois since Dec. 3, 1994.
That's the night Hodge went down in the first half against the Salukis in Carbondale, Ill., with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Now, 365 days and countless hours of rehabilitation later, Hodge is eager to face Southern Illinois again at 7:35 tonight at Scope.
``I look at this as a revenge game for me,'' said Hodge, who was hurt while jumping to catch a long pass on a fast break. ``They destroyed us. They were blowing us out while I was in the game and really blew us out when I was out of the game.
``I want to remember what they did and really punish them. They punished us, they had no mercy. I want to do the same when they come here.''
Hodge, a junior center, admitted his return to actionfollowing knee surgery has been rocky.
He is averaging 13.8 points and 10 rebounds a game and shooting 49 percent from the field and 33 percent from the line. Hodge's career averages coming into the season were 16.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 55 percent shooting from the field, 72 percent from the line.
``Right now I'm struggling a little bit,'' Hodge said. ``That's something I haven't had happen to me much since I've been at Old Dominion.''
He took a positive step Wednesday against Hampton, scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, both season highs. But at 278 pounds, Hodge knows he has a way to go to return to the form that made him the 1993-94 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year.
``I just want to rekindle what I lost,'' Hodge said. ``I feel it will take time to get that back.''
SLOW PROCESS: ODU trailed Hampton by 10 late in the game Wednesday. Hampton was Division II a year ago, while ODU received votes in preseason rankings.
ODU (2-2) came back to win. But overall the Monarchs are off to a tepid start at best.
ODU coach Jeff Capel seems neither surprised nor concerned.
He points out that starting center Hodge and power forward Joe Bunn, a transfer, sat out last season. Small forward Mario Mullen is playing a new position - ``You can tell he's thinking the game instead of playing the game sometimes,'' Capel said - and shooting guard Mike Byers is a freshman. Trying to hold it all together is point guard Brion Dunlap, the only starter from last year who is in the same position. And he's only a sophomore.
``There are a lot of fragments there that have to come together,'' Capel said. ``It's a process you have to go through.
``We've crawled, now we have to take a few baby steps - and we'll fall down again. Hopefully by January or February, we'll be able to jog a little bit.''
FAMILIAR FACE: Southern Illinois starting center Aminu Timberlake had a small but memorable role in what some members of college basketball's cognoscente consider the greatest game ever played, Duke's 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky in a 1992 NCAA tournament regional final.
Timberlake played for Kentucky in that game. At one point he fell to the court attempting to draw a charge from Duke's Christian Laettner, who then intentionally stomped on Timberlake's chest.
FAMILIAR PLACE: This is only the second meeting between Old Dominion and Southern Illinois. But longtime ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett knows Southern Illinois well. Jarrett, ODU's AD since 1970, played tennis for the Salukis in the late 1950s and earned his undergraduate and master's degrees from the school.
ODU trainer Marty Bradley is also a Southern Illinois grad.
FAN NEWS: ODU fans can ride a free shuttle to games at Scope this season to and from The Waterside. Shuttles begin an hour before tip-off. Parking at The Waterside garage is $2 with a game ticket stub. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ODU's Odell Hodge was injured against Southern Illinois one year
ago.
by CNB