Over the next few weeks, PowerMizzou.com will take a look back at the season for each of the Tigers’ rotational players.
D’Moi Hodge made Dennis Gates recruit him a little harder last offseason. The pair spent two years together at Cleveland State, where Hodge became the Vikings’ leading scorer and the Horizon League’s Defensive Player of the Year. Gates initially recruited Hodge out of State College of Florida. Now, he was trying to convince the graduate senior guard to join him at Missouri for Hodge’s last year of eligibility.
The Tortola, British Virgin Islands native entered the transfer portal on April 6, 2022. Ten days later, he’d committed to Gates for the second time.
“He trusted me with his career and the process at which he was going through,” Gates said. “I'm definitely thankful he's here.”
Like the Tigers’ three other transfers from Cleveland State, Hodge was someone who was already familiar with Gates’ system and knew what his role would be before he even stepped foot on campus. He became a plug-and-play starter or the head coach, joining graduate senior point guard Nick Honor as one of just two players on the roster to play and start in all 35 of Mizzou’s games this season.
Hodge was quintessential for the team on both ends of the floor. Defensively, he terrorized opposing ball-handlers, constantly threatening to rip the rock away from them or intercept passes. Per KenPom, Hodge ranked seventh in the nation by registering a steal on 5.1% of possessions. He finished the year with 91 total steals, breaking the program’s record for most in a single season. Hodge slid under the radar as the team’s leader in blocks as well, swatting 17 shots.
His pilfers often helped the Tigers get into a fast break, where the team was most dangerous. According to CBB Analytics, Missouri made 67.4% of its 2-pointers and 38.2% of its 3-pointers when there were at least 25 seconds left remaining on the shot clock, both ranking in the 97th percentile in the NCAA. Gates said during the season he thought Hodge was one of the fastest players in the country in terms of going from a defensive stance to being in a full sprint in transition.
Offensively, Hodge was an analytics darling, rarely taking a shot that wasn’t at the rim or beyond the arc — he took just eight mid-rangers all season, making one of them. The 6-foot-4 guard went 100-250 from deep, making the fifth-most triples in a season in program history. Most of those treys came from above the break, Hodge connecting on 37.5% of his corner 3s and 41.0% from everywhere else along the perimeter. Hodge’s shooting form was often contagious — if he shot well, so did his teammates. He also went 77-115 inside the paint, ending the year making 63.4% of his 2s, which ranked 91st in the nation.
Replacing Hodge’s production as both a ball hawk and a sharpshooter will be one of Gates’ most challenging tasks this offseason. The head coach has commitments from senior guards Curt Lewis and John Tonje and has reached out to more in the transfer portal.
Hodge finished as the runner-up in the NABC 3-Point Championship and played in the event’s all-star game in Houston last week. Hodge hasn’t yet announced what his future plans are now that his college career is over, but making the leap to a professional team shouldn’t be out of the question.
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