Ross Hodge Details Value of WVU Basketball Playing Exhibition Games

The world will get its first look at the new-look WVU basketball team at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October. 18, when it plays at Maryland. With this being the team’s first taste of game action, head coach Ross Hodge plans to evaluate multiple aspects of his team.

Hodge said he plans to try lineups he has predetermined, but also looks forward to seeing how new looks will shape up as the game goes on.

“You have certain lineup combinations that you know you’re going to see. And then inevitably when you get in those type of environments, randomly, somehow, some way, you end up playing a lineup that you’ve never even practiced with before,” said Hodge. “And so, you’ll look forward to learning about yourself in those type of environments too. And obviously this will be the first time we’ve done it together.”

Aside from lineups, Hodge is eager to see how the team interacts with each other both on the court and on the bench.

“Big picture-wise, I think what I’m most interested in seeing and excited about seeing is what are our huddles like? What are our— what is our bench going to be like during timeouts? How do we handle when things don’t go our way? The things that we’ve preached pretty much from the moment that we’ve got here will be  a bigger judgment on my end on how the day goes than solely what the scoreboard says.”

As a whole, Hodge looks forward to gauging how the team handles adversity.

“How do we communicate with each other? How do they respond to a negative call? How do they respond to me jumping on them? You know, that’s ultimately how I’ll judge it if it was a successful day or not,” Hodge said.

One underrated aspect of exhibition games, according to Hodge, is the ability to set routines as to how the team prepares for tipoff. This includes traveling and game planning aside from just playing the game.

“It’ll be the first time we go through a pregame warm-up, a pregame routine, stay the night in a hotel together. You’ll prepare for the opponent. But in a lot of ways, you’re preparing your team to prepare for opponents,” Hodge said.

The next two exhibitions feature two Division II teams from West Virginia, with a trip to Glenville State on Oct. 23 and hosting Wheeling on Oct. 28.

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