Ross Hodge, Honor Huff talk at Big 12 Media Days
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge and senior guard Honor Huff appeared on ESPN’s coverage of Big 12 media days and here is what the pair said.
Hodge on taking the West Virginia job
“Start with just the history and the tradition. Obviously, probably the most recognizable figure in basketball as the NBA logo in Jerry West. And then kind of being a fan myself growing up during the time period with watching Coach (John) Beilein’s teams and (Kevin) Pittsnogle really was like a revolutionary time period if you think about it now stretch five men are everywhere. But during that time period it really was one of the first. And what Coach (Bob) Huggins did there and just the tradition, the administration, the alignment and the people of West Virginia. People that I think I relate to and the way that we play and our style of play is something they can appreciate. Great home court advantage, one of the best in the country and you add that all together I think you can have a recipe for success.”
On being the pro team in the state
“That’s probably what people ask the changes and the differences. Basketball is basketball; great players and great coaches in this league, great venues. But you go from a relatively level of anonymity to what you were mentioning. And you told me this Coach, the people there really are incredible people and they’re loyal, they’re hard-working, blue-collar people that love the Mountaineers. They love West Virginia so they’ve been extremely welcoming to myself and my family really from the moment that we’ve got there. They’re passionate, they’re loyal and they’re really hungry for West Virginia basketball to get back to where it’s been.”
Bringing over Jasper Floyd and Brenen Lorient from North Texas
“It’s really everything and if you can have three, four, five guys back in this landscape of college basketball it feels like you’ve got your whole team back. But to bring two guys that played a ton of minutes, you’re point guard Jasper Floyd who has some of the best intangibles of anybody I’ve ever been around and Brenen Lorient was a first-team all-league player in the American and continued to get better. Being able to bring those guys with you and help communicate with the rest of the people what’s expected is huge. And then you look at the rest of our roster what we tried to do was kind of identify people that had maybe been part of winning programs and understand what winning is and now you’re just trying to assimilate the group and try to figure out how we’re trying to win together but you don’t have to teach them how to win.”
On Treysen Eaglestaff
“He’s got great positional size, he can make shots, the ball comes out of his hands really easy and he can really get on some impressive rolls and to his credit he’s really tried to commit himself this off-season to working on his body and becoming a better defender. And trying to impact the games in other ways than just making shots.”
On Honor Huff
“It’s everything. Honor does it every day in practice so it’s not a surprise when you see him go out there and make seven, eight threes in a game. He’s an incredibly hard-worker, he’s got an infectious personality which you guys will see here in a second and he’s selfless. He’s experienced winning and winning at the highest level, won the NIT Championship last year and made some really big shots along the way. So, he’s just another guy that you don’t have to teach how to win. We’re just having to learn how we’re going to win together but he’s been awesome and people are going to love watching him play.”
Honor Huff then sit down with ESPN.
On work ethic
“It’s been there since I was a kid, I’ve always shot the ball at a pretty high rate growing up so just bringing that all to fruition now. It’s just a credit to my teammates and coaches last year putting me in the right positions to make that happen and obviously attribute it to the hard work I’ve put in day-in and day-out to get there.”
The journey of bringing WVU back
“I think it just starts at the top with Coach Hodge the way he recruited and how he recruited really sets this team up for success. He’s very particular with how he does things in practice. Again with the recruiting trail, our connectivity and all that comes with it is going to lead us to some big wins and surprise a lot of people.”
One word to describe Hodge
“Gritty. Everything he wants us to do is just gritty you’ve got to work for it. No matter what, he always says, ‘Don’t get tired of kicking people’s tails, don’t get tired of making shots. Just keep going.'”
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