How D'Moi Hodge met his goal of breaking Mizzou basketball's steal record against LSU

As soon as he joined Missouri basketball, D’Moi Hodge had a goal. The Cleveland State transfer was talking to former Tiger guard and current graduate assistant coach Phil Pressey, who told Hodge he was tied for Missouri’s all-time lead in steals.

Hodge said he was going to break the record. Then he realized that particular mark was going to be nearly impossible to hit.

“I’m not here for that long,” Hodge said after Missouri’s dramatic comeback victory at LSU on Wednesday. “He’s lucky.”

Instead, Hodge set his eyes on the Tigers’ single season steal record, which Lynn Hardy set at 76 during the 1986-87 campaign. Hodge got that one Wednesday, entering the game with 73 steals and leaving with 78.

The record-breaking steal came with 11:34 remaining in the game, and Hodge turned it into a three-pointer to tie the game at 59. It was the first time Missouri had pulled even with LSU since the Bayou Bengals hit a three-pointer just 12 seconds into the first half.

Hodge didn’t realize what he had done in the moment. He had also hoped to catch Hardy in Mizzou Arena.

“I really didn’t know how many steals I had, honestly, until after the game,” Hodge said. “I was never thinking about the records during the game. I just keep telling (MU athletics associate director of strategic communications) Jason (Veniskey), I don’t want to break it away, I want to break it at home.”

The guard from the British Virgin Islands acknowledged that breaking the record still meant a lot to him, even if it did come in Baton Rouge. It also helped that the moment was big.

He said he didn’t know which one was the record until Veniskey showed him the replay afterward.

“In the moment it was just like, I got the steal and then I made a big shot,” Hodge said. “It feels good to know that the play that I did get the steal was very impactful for the game.”

Hodge’s journey with Missouri coach Dennis Gates started when he joined Gates’ Cleveland State team before his junior year. Hodge liked Gates anyway, but the deal was sealed when the coach flew to the British Virgin Islands to meet his family.

The guard, who joined Cleveland State after a stint at State College of Florida, soon met Tre Gomillion and Deante “Spider” Johnson, who taught him how to be more competitive about defense. Gates also hands out a defensive award after every game, which further motivated him

“At Cleveland State it was always personal,” Hodge said. “...Part of the joy of playing defense, trying to win that award after every game, that was the biggest thing starting off and it just carried on for the rest of my career.”

Gates pointed out that the motivation grew even more when Hodge was left off all-conference defensive lists that first season. The ensuing summer, he worked to get better, and in 2021-22, he was named the Horizon League’s defensive player of the year.

Hodge kept up that improvement in Columbia and has filled a key role for Missouri as a steals leader, plus a three-point threat.

“I wanted all along somebody to be on that defensive team,” Gates said. “And D’Moi should be that person, and I hope he gets voted defensive player of the year.”

For Gates, the moment held another kind of significance. Throughout his first year on the job, he has spoken of his love and respect for Tiger basketball history.

On Wednesday, one of his players earned a place in that history, on the way to a win that moved Missouri to 22-8 on the season, 10-7 in SEC play.

“When there are records being broken, and they’re all meant to be broken at some point, it just means that our guys are bought into the defensive side of the ball,” Gates said. “They’re bought into playing both ways, they’re bought into playing unselfish. For me that’s a very impactful, impactful thing.”

Hodge, who is in his final season of eligibility, will be honored along with eight of his teammates during Missouri’s senior day ceremony before its regular season finale against Ole Miss. The game, which is set to tip off at 2:30 p.m. in Mizzou Arena, is sold out, but will be aired on the SEC Network.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: D'Moi Hodge breaks Missouri basketball's steals record against LSU