Julius Hodge

Julius Melvin Hodge (born November 18, 1983) is an American-Antiguan former professional basketball player who is an assistant coach for the Little Rock Trojans.

On February 2, Hodge became the first 36er since Robert Rose in 1994 to record a triple double (24 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists).

As a senior at St. Raymond High School for Boys, operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, in the Bronx, New York, Hodge was part of the 2001 McDonald's All-American Team and the First-team Parade All-American, New York State Mr. Basketball, New York Daily News Player of the Year, New York All-Metro Squad, and Sports Illustrated's Old Spice Athlete of the Month.

He scored a total of 684 points his senior season, setting the school record at St. Raymond High School, and left rated as the best shooting guard by ESPN and fifth-best nationally.

He averaged 24.5 points, 5 assists and 4 steals per game.

Hodge surprised basketball fans by choosing to attend NC State over Syracuse University.

As a freshman with the NC State Wolfpack, he was the leading freshman scorer in the ACC, averaging 10.7 points per game.

He was named to second-team All-ACC Tournament team, after averaging 12.3 points.

He was the only Pack player with multiple double-doubles for the 2001–2002 season.

He earned the Lorenzo Charles Offensive Rebounding Award for 2002, Dick Vitale's "Diaper Dandy" and ranked 20th in the ACC in rebounding.

He scored a double-double in his first collegiate game and his first ACC game.

For the 2002–03 campaign, Hodge was selected as a First Team All-ACC player.

He recorded four career-highs during the three-day run to the finals of the ACC tournament.

He recorded his seventh double-double during the final game of the tournament and ranked seventh in free throw percentage for the season.

During this season he recorded the first-ever triple-double in Wolfpack history, and was named ACC Player of the Week after leading the Pack to back-to-back victories against Duke and North Carolina.

The ACC Player of the Year during the 2003–04 season, Hodge finished his college career by leading State to the Sweet 16.

Julius Hodge was born in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem and raised across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium.

His mother, Mary Hodge, worked two jobs, including as a teacher's aide, to support Julius and his two siblings.

Hodge became smitten with basketball when he was five years old after his father took him to a New York Knicks game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden where Magic Johnson smiled at him in the crowd.

Hodge's father was deported to Antigua and Barbuda when Hodge was nine years old and Hodge has not seen him since.

Hodge's older brother, Steven, was his strongest male role model and played basketball in the NJCAA at Sullivan County Community College and later in NCAA Division II at Long Island University – Southampton.

Steven made the decision to name his younger brother after all-time basketball great Julius Erving.

He was one of 17 finalists to make the U.S. squad for the 2003 Pan American Games and Dick Vitale named Hodge to his "All-Rolls Royce Team."

He was one of the 50 preseason candidates for the Wooden Award.

Originally from Harlem, New York, Hodge played college basketball at NC State and was selected 20th overall in the 2005 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets.

During the 2005 NCAA tournament, Hodge hit a game winning shot against UConn after Charlie Villanueva had tied the score.

After concluding his senior season and entering the NBA draft, Hodge remained at NC State to finish his degree in communications.

Hodge was chosen in the first round (20th overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.

He appeared in 14 games for the Nuggets in the 2005–06 season while averaging only 0.9 points in 2.4 minutes.

On January 5, 2007, Hodge started in his first career NBA game, against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Six days later he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks along with Earl Boykins for Steve Blake.

On February 7 of that year, Hodge was waived by the Bucks.

Later that year, he played for the 2007 Seattle SuperSonics summer league team.

On August 10, 2007, Hodge signed with Italian Serie A team Cimberio Varese.

Midway through the season, he transferred to fellow Serie A team Legea Scafati.

In Italy, Hodge had trouble getting his clubs to fulfill his salary obligations.

On December 21, 2007, Hodge signed with the Adelaide 36ers in the Australian NBL as their second import to replace the outgoing Mike Chappell.

He finished his contract with Italian Serie A team Legea Scafati and arrived in Adelaide on December 23 after making trips to his hometown New York.

He made his debut for the 36ers against the South Dragons helping them to a victory.

On January 29, Hodge was rewarded with the league's player of the week for round 19 after averaging 27 points, 4 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the two games the 36ers played, which included a dominant performance of 39 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists against the Cairns Taipans.