Jada Stinson had Arkansas State University's meeting on Dec. 10 with the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff circled on her calendar.
Two weeks earlier, the Red Wolves lost their season-opener to the Golden Lions in Jonesboro, and the rematch offered Stinson and her teammates a chance to earn some early season redemption. But the trip to Pine Bluff never happened; a covid-19 outbreak within UAPB's program put the game on hold.
ASU has gotten used to the disappointment of a contest being called off on short notice this season.
So far, the Red Wolves have seen 11 games canceled or postponed, with hastily arranged meetings with NAIA and NCAA Division II programs inserted in their place
In a Dec. 11 replacement game, ASU hosted Williams Baptist of the NAIA and pummelled the Eagles in a 96-46 win.
"When we found out that we weren't going to play UAPB, it was tough," Stinson said. "It was disappointing. We came to the next team and just demolished them. We played them like they were UAPB."
Games against Williams Baptist and Champion Christian have padded a light early slate for the Red Wolves, who have rolled to a 7-1 record, their best start since 2003-04. "Our schedule has been favorable," Coach Matt Daniel said.
On Jan. 8 and 9, ASU swept its Sun Belt Conference-opening weekend set over Texas State and now heads to Louisiana-Monroe this weekend with a chance to improve to 4-0 in league play.
Rather than feeling unprepared for the Sun Belt by a nonconference schedule, senior forward Peyton Martin called, "the easiest I've played," the Red Wolves head to Monroe and into the meat of conference play with a confidence and cohesion built over the early part of the season.
"We grew and really figured some things out," said Daniel, who is in his second season at ASU. "Now, what is our record going to be over the next however many games we play? I have no idea. But I like where we are now."
Following the rash of early cancellations, ASU considered punting on a bulk of its nonconference schedule and holding out until the Sun Belt season in January. Instead, Daniel and the Red Wolves packed the schedule with whoever it could find to fill the open dates.
As ASU blew past opponents such as Central Baptist (an 85-39 victory) and averaged 85.0 points in its first first six games, Daniel went to work learning about a team featuring veterans such as Jireh Washington and Martin, and newcomers such as Stinson, the Memphis transfer who leads the Red Wolves with 11.9 points per game.
In those early games, ASU tried out new schemes, introduced defensive alignments, and against lower-level opponents, focused inward to forge an identity. Trying to simulate different situations the Red Wolves might face down the road, Daniel got creative, too, like at home on Jan. 4 when ASU wore its black road uniforms. Daniel wanted to be sure the team was used to playing in them.
"We decided to control what we could control, and we've hammered out our approach," he said. "We tried to learn from every situation we were in and build something from there,"
In lieu of lost games to UAPB and Grambling State, ASU's nonconference schedule gave the team a chance to work on itself in December and launched the Red Wolves into the Sun Belt this month with problems, among them ASU's defense, hopefully solved.
"I think it was a good thing that we had an easier nonconference schedule," Washington said. "It helped us defensively. Now, against conference teams, we know how to be and where to be. The game is slowed down."
That cohesive defense was on display in the Red Wolves' sweep of Texas State, when they held the Bobcats to 53 and 54 points in back-to-back wins.
ASU continues deeper into the Sun Belt now largely untested but unbeaten in its last seven games and tethered by the foundation it built against an unconventional early season schedule.
"We got our own chemistry fixed during the nonconference schedule," Washington said. "We were able to really look at our issues and fix them, and got ourselves together."