Former North Carolina State standout Julius Hodge, the No. 20 pick in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft, was named Lincoln University men’s basketball coach on July 24.

The 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Harlem is probably best remembered for scoring the game-winning basket that defeated No. 2 seed Connecticut in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. But in a phone interview, the 40-year-old Hodge, who played overseas for nearly a decade after his brief NBA career, was quick to praise those who shaped his basketball path.

“I’ve always been around great men and great coaches,” he says. “That’s why I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to be a coach after my playing days.”

Hodge played for the Gauchos AAU organization that produced NBA greats such as Rod Strickland, Kenny Anderson, Jamal Mashburn and Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame member Chris Mullin.

However, the greatest influence on Hodge was his older brother Steven, who is now 51 years old.

“I grew up watching him play with his buddies,” Hodge said, “all these guys who grew up in the crack era and graduated from high school and college and all played Division I and II basketball.”

Steven, a 6-foot-3 winger, won the 1992 national junior college championship at Sullivan County, NY, and then played at Division II level at Southampton College on Long Island. He is now a teacher.

“He was just a great role model and a great teacher,” Hodge said, “so I knew I always wanted to serve others and teach them and give them guidance and leadership.”

Hodge, whose NBA career lasted only 23 games with Denver and Milwaukee, ended his active playing career abroad in 2015 after stints in Australia, Venezuela, China, Vietnam and France.

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After retiring, Hodge worked briefly with what is now the Atlantic Coast Conference Network before joining the coaching staff in Buffalo under Nate Oats, now Alabama coach.

Hodge also served as an assistant under then-NC State coach Herb Sendek, who now leads Santa Clara University. He was an assistant at San Jose State for three seasons and an assistant at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for the last three seasons. While he credits previous coaches, including Gary DeCesare and Russ Smith Sr., for shaping him as a player, Hodge’s coaching career began at home.

“My older brother taught me the core values ​​of coaching when I was a young boy,” he said. “Be disciplined, strive for excellence every day and take responsibility.”

Lincoln won its first Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament title in March under then-coach Jason Armstrong. The team was led by Reggie Hudson, a Bronx native from Hodge’s alma mater, St. Raymond’s High School for Boys, where Hodge was a McDonald’s All-American.

Hodge also praised last year’s leading scorers, Bakir Cleveland and Freddie Young, who averaged 13.1 and 11 points, respectively.

Hodge acknowledged that Peter Sorber also played a key role in last season’s championship run. Sorber is the older brother of Thomas Sorber, who recently graduated from Archbishop Ryan University and will play at Georgetown next season.

“It’s a great honor to be named Lincoln’s new head coach,” Hodge said. “In my first conversation with the guys, I made it very clear: This is their garden and I’m nothing more than a gardener.”

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Hodge has a green thumb and is a homeschool basketball player. His daughter, Michaela, is a freshman forward at Hofstra. He calls her the “superwoman of the family.”

Although Hodge has always been a point guard, he considers someone else to be the Superman of the family.

“He’s my Superman,” Hodge said of his older brother. “He’s the superhero of our family. … I always wanted to follow in his footsteps and so far that’s helped me. I’ve had a good life because he’s been a great role model.”