Kinyon Hodges reflects on return to Cape Girardeau

With friends and family in the stands, Cape Girardeau native and Cape Central High School alum Kinyon Hodges made his return to the Show Me Center on Thursday as Hodges’ Eastern Illinois Panthers battled the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.

Hodges said he has been looking forward to the matchup all season,

“I wish it would have happened earlier,” Hodges said.

Despite the Panthers suffering a 78-64 loss at the hands of the Redhawks, Hodges said he still enjoyed being back in Cape Girardeau.

“It felt great,” Hodges said. “The spirits were up high because it felt good to be back in my hometown. It’s always great to play in front of your hometown. I got a lot of love tonight.”

In Hodges’ senior year with the Cape Central Tigers in 2019, the Tigers went 26-4 before losing in the Class 4 quarterfinals.

Tigers coach Drew Church had high praise for Hodges and the way he represents the Tigers.

“We love it,” Church said. “We love Kinyon and what he’s been able to do at the next level is unbelievable.”

Hodges takes pride in being able to represent Cape Central.

“It feels good,” Hodges said. “All the young fellas there I just want to show them they can do what I do if they just keep working.”

Across Hodges’ four-year career with the Tigers, he was able to play at the Show Me Center multiple times, but Thursday night was the first time he stepped on the court at the division one level.

“It feels really good because not many athletes from this area go division one,” Hodges said. “It feels good to come back and show people younger than me that they can do what I do.”

After high school Hodges went on to play at Three Rivers College and in his final season with Three Rivers, Hodges averaged nearly 12 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

In his first season with the Panthers Hodges has continued to find success as he is averaging 14 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game.

As a team the Panthers sit 9-19 overall and 5-10 in Ohio Valley Conference play, putting them 8th in the OVC Standings. The top 8 seeds will advance to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Indiana and the Panthers have a one-game lead in the standings over Lindenwood and Little Rock.

Hodges and the Panthers will hit the road on Saturday, Feb. 18 and take on Little Rock at 3:30 p.m. in Arkansas. Eastern Illinois will then have two home games against Morehead State (Feb. 22) and Tennessee Tech (Feb. 25) to round out the 2022-23 regular season.