The Russellville High School varsity boys’ basketball team is set to tip off its 2024-25 campaign at home against Deshler this Friday. Coming off another Class 5A Area 15 title last season, the Golden Tigers enter this year with a number of key players returning from the 2023-24 squad and have aspirations for a further push into the postseason this time around.
Preseason preparation to that effect has gone well, Russellville head coach Patrick Odom said, even though the Golden Tigers haven’t had all of their players around for most of it. Russellville has a number of multi-sport athletes, which contributes to that and the fact that it’s starting its season a little later than other teams in the county.
“If you go back to our summer, I thought we had a really good summer with this group,” said Odom, who is entering his 10th season in charge of the Golden Tigers. “Ninety percent of our guys play football, so we really haven’t had a lot of them in the gym until football season ended. But we’re really pleased with the practices we’ve had so far, and we’re ready to go play. We’re used to having a quick turnaround, so we’re used to the process of what it takes.
“It’s always an evolving process of getting us where we need to be, but we’re excited about this group and just ready to go play, see where we’re at, and start getting better,” he added.
One of the Golden Tigers trading in his shoulder pads for sneakers is senior guard EJ King. King was an impact player for region runner-up Golden Tigers on the gridiron this past season, but on the court Russellvlle’s King rules. As a junior, King was named one of the five best players in Class 5A, according to the Alabama Sports Writers Association. King’s ASWA First Team All-State selection was the first for Russellville since Luther Tiggs in 1983.
“A lot of guys have a lot of shots, a lot of volume, but EJ is such an efficient player that he has big games in a very quiet way,” Odom told the Franklin Free Press after King was honored in March 2024. “We’ll think he has 17 or 20 points and then look at the book and he’s got 28 or 30 because of how he does it. It’s just a steady approach.
“With EJ, you know, it’s a coach’s luxury when you feel like you’ve got the best player in the area,” Odom told the FFP this week. “He’s talented, he makes everyone else better, he was the big school player of the year around here last year. He’s gonna get a ton of attention from every opponent we play, and he has to be comfortable with that, but you feel really good when you have him along with Jah.”
That’s Jah Williams, another senior hitting the hardwood after Russellville’s football campaign. On the field and on the court, Williams is an all-purpose playmaker and a problem for the opposition. Odom describes the 6-foot-1 guard as the squad’s driving force.
“He’s just our motor; he’s our spark plug. He plays so hard,” he said. “He leads by example in that way.
“Between those two guys, they’ve played in a lot of big games, they’ve been through a lot of dog fights; you feel like nothing is going to overwhelm them from that standpoint,” Odom added of King and Williams.
Supplementing the two stars Odom said the Golden Tigers have other experienced players that will be vital to team success this campaign.
“We’ve got two other seniors that have played a lot and then our juniors and…one sophomore on the roster that’ve been playing behind the guys that graduated last year, but they’ve played a lot of basketball,” the head coach said. “The chemistry has been really good, and we feel with Jah and EJ we’ve got two guys that know how to lead.
“We feel like we’ve got eight guys that’ve settled in in practice and are gonna be in the rotation,” he added. “Our other two seniors are Rylan Pratt and Zay Hubbard, and then we’ve got three juniors that we feel are gonna contribute: Malachi Groce, my son Parker Odom, and Cam Phinizee, who obviously is not unaccustomed to Friday night lights and big moments. So, we feel like we’ve got a lot of guys who are ready to get out and play and contribute and understand their roles.”
With this team’s experience, talent, and playmaking ability, Odom believes his Golden Tigers can once again come out on top in their three team area. However, the head coach knows Russellville’s two Area 15 rivals West Point and Lawrence County, whom RHS bested in the area tournament last season, won’t just roll over and cede the crown while the Golden Tigers aspire to even higher goals.
“The focus is always A: you know you can’t get anywhere without taking care of business in the area, so we want to continue hopefully controlling that,” Odom said. “It’s gonna be another tough area. West Point returns a lot of guys, Lawrence County may have more experience returning on paper than anyone else, and those two teams are always very competitive and very good. You always gotta go earn it in our area—we know that—but we know from what’s taken place that if we do take care of business then it runs through us.
“Two straight years we’ve been knocked out in that first round of the regional tournament, and we’d love to build on that,” Odom added. “We’d love to take that next step as a program. In (Class) 5A basketball it’s tough. Everybody’s good when you get to that point and it’s tough to advance, but that’s where we want to be. They’re high goals, they’re lofty goals, but we don’t know any other way.
“You know, every year is different. If you look back at last year, we returned most of the same roster, yet that year was different. Every year is so different, but we like this group and we’re excited to get started and ready to see what we can do.”
Russellville opens its season at home against Deshler on Friday, November 22. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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