EIU star disciplined ‘internally’ for swing at fan
The top scorer for the Eastern Illinois males’s basketball team will be disciplined “internally” after he attempted to hit a fan in a loss Thursday, according to the school.Late in the very first half of Eastern Illinois ’80-67 loss at Lindenwood, guard Kinyon Hodges approached a fan sitting in the front row at Hyland Arena and swung at his face. The fan and another guy sitting beside him immediately pointed to a ref who stopped the game. Hodges was hit with a technical foul, however he was enabled to stay in the game.It’s uncertain from video of the incident what led up to it or if Hodges actually reached the fan.Hodges, who averages a team-high 13.8 points per game, scored 2 in
24 minutes Thursday as Eastern Illinois suffered its eighth loss in nine games. The team is 7-17 under second-year coach Marty Simmons.Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Per an Eastern Illinois statement Friday, Hodges let his” emotions get the best of him.”
” We are aware of the event that took place throughout the first half of our guys’s basketball game at Lindenwood [
Thursday], “EIU athletic director Tom Michael stated in a statement.”As an athletic department, Eastern Illinois prides itself on excellent sportsmanship. We do not condone this type of habits by our guys’s basketball group or any of our 500 student-athletes.”The issue has been resolved with both the player involved for EIU in addition to the Ohio Valley Conference with any disciplinary action to be handled internally. The player in concern understands that this is not the kind of behavior displayed by our student-athletes or our men’s basketball program and in the heat of the minute let feelings get the very best of him. This will be a knowing moment progressing and we ask forgiveness to anybody that may have been adversely affected by the occurrence.” Hodges is in his very first year at Eastern Illinois after playing the last 3 seasons at Three Rivers, a junior college in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. He signed up with a program that has attained one winning season(2019-20)in the last 9 years.Simmons said Hodges is remorseful for his actions Thursday.”I spoke to the boy this morning and he is extremely sorry for his actions at [Thursday’s] basketball game,” Simmons said in a statement.”This is not in the character
of this young man. Even though he did not make physical contact with the fan
, he comprehends the severity of this and regrets that his actions have adversely affected the view of not just himself but the Eastern Illinois program. “