Finding a comfort zone

Marcus Rhodes admits that he initially was a bit overwhelmed by Division I college basketball.

It appears that is no longer the case.

Rhodes, a freshman guard, has been among Southeast Missouri State's top players since the Ohio Valley Conference schedule started.

Rhodes will look to continue his strong recent play when Southeast (3-7, 1-2 OVC) begins a two-game OVC homestand Sunday with a 4:30 p.m. tipoff against Jacksonville State (2-6, 0-2).

"Marcus is playing very well, especially for a freshman," Southeast first-year coach Scott Edgar said. "He has really made himself a valuable member of our rotation."

The 6-foot-2 Rhodes' overall statistics are not overwhelming. He is averaging 5.6 points per game while shooting 36.2 percent from the field, including 23.1 percent from 3-point range. He is averaging 1.7 rebounds, and has 11 assists along with 14 turnovers and seven steals.

But Rhodes is averaging 14 points in Southeast's three OVC games, second on the squad behind junior swingman David Johnson's 16-point average. They are the only Southeast players to have scored at least 10 points in every conference game.

Rhodes, who scored a Southeast career-high 17 points at Tennessee State on Dec. 7, is third on the team in minutes played in league contests with an average of 25.3, despite not having started a game all season.

"At first I was nervous, being my first college season," Rhodes said. "I think I'm starting to get a good feel for the game, and I've got a lot more confidence now."

Rhodes, one of several true freshmen seeing significant action for the Redhawks, is shooting 50 percent from the field in conference play (12-for-24), and also 50 percent on 3-pointers (3-for-6).

He also leads Southeast in assists in league games with 10, compared to seven turnovers. He is averaging 3.3 rebounds and has added three steals.

"His stats pretty much across the board are very impressive since we started OVC play," Edgar said. "He's doing a lot of good things for us."

Edgar said Rhodes, after something of an anticipated slow start that most freshmen experience, is playing pretty much like the coach envisioned when he signed Rhodes after taking the Southeast coaching job.

As an assistant coach at Tennessee last season, Edgar recruited players at Harmony Community, a prep school in Cincinnati. Rhodes was a member of that squad.

"We signed one of the guards at Tennessee, guards signed with Cincinnati and Virginia Tech, and they had one of the top 15 underclassmen in the country that signed with Florida this year," Edgar said. "They just had an array of talent on that team.

"When I first came to Southeast, you gather your notes ... I wrote 'good mid-major combo guard' about Marcus. We inquired about him, he was available, and we were fortunate to get him."

Rhodes, a native of Gary, Ind., has endeared himself to Edgar with his ability to penetrate, a trait the coach believes is not in abundance on the team right now.

"When I first looked at this group, I did not know how many guys could attack the basket with dribble penetration," Edgar said. "Good dribble penetration is hard to defend.

"Marcus is able to give us that. He just has versatility. If you back off him he can make the outside shot, if you crowd him, he's got a great first step. And he can make the floater, which not a lot of guys can make. He also hits his free throws."

On a team that ranks among the worst free-throw shooting squads in the nation at 57.4 percent, Rhodes leads Southeast at 67.9 percent (19 of 28), including 78.9 percent (15 of 19) in OVC play.

Rhodes said he has been playing recently much the way he did in high school.

"I penetrated a lot. That's always been a big part of my game," he said. "I'm glad to be contributing to the team, and hopefully we can start picking up some more wins."