Ross Hodge Details Highs and Lows of Exhibition Game Win

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Basketball’s exhibition game was Ross Hodge’s first game as head coach, with WVU prevailing 8-54 Sunday.

In the postgame press conference, Hodge went over what his likes and dislikes from the game, providing a heavy emphasis on defense.

On the positive side of defense, Hodge said it was good enough for a game where WVU struggled to shoot from three-point range. The mountaineers went 6-20 from beyond the arc Sunday.

“I thought our defense was good enough. When you’re not shooting the ball well, which you’re not always gonna shoot it, kind of anticipated that a little bit as well as we shot it in our closed door scrimmage, you kind of know, you’re like, just the law of averages,” he explained.

When it comes to the negative, Hodge did not like the defense to start the second half. WVU allowed a 7-2 run to open the half, forcing a quick timeout from Hodge.

“I didn’t like the way we started the second half. I thought early on we had them in some really tough spots and we kind of had like ticky-tack fouls to put them on the line… If you, if you were to look at the possessions where we forced shot clock violations or made really difficult shots, it’s usually because our defense was, was really intact and you kept the ball out of the paint, you made them make a tough shot,” Hodge said.

As a whole, Hodge said he liked how the team stuck together throughout the game, a trend he noticed in the closed scrimmage against Maryland as well. He added positives in the players’ body language and playing unselfishly.

“I felt like both times our togetherness was really good,” Hodge said. “I thought our bench was good. I thought our guys are playing legitimately, playing for each other and playing for West Virginia and not playing for themselves or out there trying to do things that we don’t normally see them do in practice. That’s kind of what you’re measuring a lot of this stuff. You’re looking at body language.”

WVU will kick off its regular season against Mount St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 at the Hope Coliseum.

Find more coverage of Ross Hodge and WVU Basketball at WV Sports Now.