Anatomy of a comeback: Arkansas State rallies from 25 down to beat UAB

There are not a lot of options for halftime speeches when down 25.

Arkansas State coach Bryan Hodgson opted for the blunt route against UAB.

“We couldn’t possibly play any worse that we just did,” Hodgson told his players.

Typically, the locker room reaction to a 25-point halftime deficit is slumped shoulders, hung heads and faraway stares. Hodgson didn’t see that in his players. There was confidence in their eyes despite the seemingly dire situation.

And the Red Wolves proved their coach right, pulling off one of the largest comebacks in Division I history.

Down 53-28 at halftime, Arkansas State roared back to beat UAB 98-89 in overtime Sunday night in Birmingham, Alabama. It marked the sixth time in NCAA history a team rallied from a 25-point halftime to win a game and matched the third-largest comeback in history. The Red Wolves also were the eighth team to overcome a deficit of at least 27 points — they were down 59-32 early in the second half — and win.

“When I looked around that locker room, there was belief that we could win,” Hodgson said on Monday. “They didn’t waver at all.”

The seeds for the Red Wolves’ confidence were planted during Hodgson’s previous stints at Buffalo and Alabama. Working as an assistant under coach Nate Oats, Hodgson saw the confidence his boss instilled in his players and brought the same mentality with him when he took the Arkansas State job in 2023.

The Red Wolves showed flashes of confidence during a 20-17 first season under Hodgson and even more this year in a nine-point loss to No. 6 Alabama and an 85-72 win over No. 21 Memphis earlier this month.

All that fortitude suddenly disappeared in the first half against UAB.

Despite spending two days preparing for UAB’s 1-3-1 zone, Arkansas State (9-3) got sped up and fell flat. Instead of getting the ball to the middle of the floor or working it to the corners against the zone, the Red Wolves spent most of the first half coughing up the ball right to the Blazers (5-6).

UAB used a flurry of turnovers to get out in transition, turning a three-point deficit into a 24-point lead in a span of about 7 1/2 minutes.

“We were like a deer in the headlights,” Hodgson said. “It was kind of mind blowing. We just threw the ball over the gym.”

Down 27 early in the second half and with two injured starters playing limited minutes seemed like a recipe for another run-of-the-mill blowout.

The Red Wolves howled their way into history with a massive turnaround.

Finally executing the game plan, Arkansas State carved up UAB’s zone to peck away at the lead. Unlike the first half, when their big men were late on high screens or they threw the ball away, the Red Wolves were able to kick off their offense with screens at the top of the key.

With the big men on time with their screens up top, Arkansas State’s guards could freely cross the 3-point line and force the Blazers to play from behind. From there, Arkansas State’s guards drove to the basket or kicked out to open shooters.

The Red Wolves cut their turnovers from 11 in the first half to three in the second, made 22 of 37 shots and went 6 of 11 from 3. UAB forced overtime on Yaxel Lendeborg’s dunk with 7 seconds left, but Arkansas State’s Taryn Todd scored five of his career-high 31 points in overtime to push Arkansas State to an improbable victory.

“My guys just showed a lot of grit in the second half,” Hodgson said.

Awful in the first half, the Red Wolves couldn’t have played much better in the second for a place in history.