Moody's Charging Wildcats hit a wall in Fayetteville

Moses Moody

— North Little Rock sophomore and Arkansas recruiting target Moses Moody and his fellow Charging Wildcats started off the season strong, but head coach Johnny Rice saw his youngsters face some adversity this weekend.

North Little Rock (5-3) went 1-2 in the Bulldog Classic with a win over Harrison before losses to Jacksonville and Conway.

“We’ve had a great start this season, but we just came up here up here and hit a wall,” North Little Rock head coach Johnny Rice said. “As young as we are, playing four sophomores, we hit the wall pretty quickly and head on.

“People are getting physical with us. I am glad we are going to have a week of practice and we are going to kind of like start all over again and that’s what we will do on Monday.”

Moody (6-5, 170), averaging more than 20 points per game this season, had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 7 steals and 4 assists Saturday afternoon in his team’s 57-49 loss to Conway.

“This year we have played overall pretty good, but we didn’t have a good tournament this weekend,” Moody said. “It’s all about the bounce back and we are going to get back to practice on Monday and regroup.”

Moody admits that the grind has gotten to him and his teammates, who had had three games in each of the past two weekends.

“This tournament was really an eye-opening experience for me,” Moody said. “I’ll make that adjustment and be ready for it once we get into conference play. We have have got to stay together and I’ll do my part.”

With his offer list, which includes Arkansas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Florida State, Moody has become a marked man on the court.

“Moses has had good numbers,” Rice said. “He didn’t score the ball this weekend like he has in our other games, but that’s just being a young one and every team is going to come at him hard and concentrate on him because of who he is. He’s never been in that situation.

“He played sparingly at Parkview last year, but it is new for him to have the ball in his hands so much. He is playing against guys who are two years older than him so it has take a little adjustment.

“But he is a hard-working kid and he’ll get it going again.”

Moody scored 31 points in a 68-66 loss to Jonesboro the previous weekend and had 33 points in a win over Van Buren in late November.

“I’ve got to keep working on my scoring in transition, my ball-handling and every aspect of my game I just need to continue to improve on,” Moody said.

He got a chance to check out a Razorback practice this weekend.

“I have watched them on TV and I got to watch their last practice (on Friday),” Moody said. “They are playing really well and staying in touch with me.”

Lee’s Summitt, Mo., West won the tournament Saturday with a 66-26 win over Jacksonville with RJ Johnson leading the way with 19 points while 6-11 Oklahoma State signee Yor Aeni added 17 and Creighton signee Christian Bishop chipped in 12.

Lee’s Summitt West led just 26-21 at half before going on a 22-2 run in the third quarter.