Ross Hodge press conference summary post Little Rock
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge addressed the media following the Little Rock game and WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
–Hodge said he was a little reluctant to schedule this game because of his respect for the team but they’ve been ravaged by injuries. They’ve been hit hard by them and when they scheduled it they were having a hard time getting games in that region and they knew what they were signing up for but they’re still competing and by the time they get to league they’ll get a couple guys back. It was a quick turnaround for West Virginia and they corrected some of the things from Saturday. You don’t always get to play against a similar style right away but Harlan Obioha did a good job of handling the double-team and spacing was good. There was 22 assists on 30 made baskets which was a good sight. Hodge was a little disappointed in the defensive rebounding. They have length and the Mountaineers were helping off some guys but he was disappointed with how they started the second half defensively.
–Spacing and willingness to share the basketball was good. Hodge felt they were on the receiving end of unselfish play and at times over passed a little bit.
–Hodge said they were able to watch the Wake Forest game on Sunday and some of their spacing and cleaning up the patience of the forwards and understanding the double team is coming. Try to get the ball in some more favorable spots so when they weren’t double teamed they weren’t in positions you didn’t want them to be in.
–Hodge said you want to play well every night and win every night. In all of the games they’re equally as important. They feel different but the truth is if you beat Clemson but lose to Mercyhurst at home is one game really more important? What he felt they needed to do better showed up in the game.
–Hodge was honest with Treysen Eaglestaff after the game against Wake Forest and felt that he had impacted the game in a lot of ways outside of shooting the ball. He gave up four catch and shoot threes so at that point in time it starts with defensive accountability. It was his defense that limited his offensive abilities which he knew. He has a great heart and he holds himself accountable.
–Eaglestaff has a great heart and he is such a good teammate and he cares so much about this university, this program and this state. He cares about his teammates and can feel the weight at times. He is super resilient and is always in the gym and wants to be coached. He never points fingers and blames. That will serve him well in life as well.
–Ohio State is really good offensively but he hasn’t had a chance to really get into studying them from a scouting report. He’s looked at their metrics and they lead the country in two-point percentage and they’re experienced and they can challenge you in a lot of different ways and they’ll have to be razor sharp. The one thing you can’t do is when you’re playing really good offensive teams, you can’t give them freebies and you have to be really sound with your game plan and execution and you can’t give them easy ones.
–Hodge wants to win every game they ever play. More than anything you want to win and they’ve put themselves in position to but they’ve got to finish it. It’s another big opportunity in the non-league. If you win it, it’s not like your a lock and if you lose it you’re not an anti-lock.
–You want those moments to be special and to deliver in those neutral site games but came up short.
–Hodge said they’ve played 11 games and 7 of them they’ve been double teamed. It surprises him sometimes but other times when they haven’t handled the double team great you have to pick your poison. It made sense with Wake because they do it to prevent you from scoring and fuel their defense. You have to look at it two different ways and each team has to figure out what they’re going to live with and what they’re going to sacrifice. People do it for a lot of reasons.
–The gravity Honor Huff brings to the table. There is a Steph Curry effect. The energy and excitement when he starts making shots and they’re just three points but they feel like 10 sometimes. He’s unique in that ability.
–Hodge is not surprised by the impact Chance Moore has had. He’s just so physical with his ability to drive the basketball and just gets on top of people really quick and he just has that quick second jump. Hodge said he’s just so different from anything else they have. He really is the only player that can put rim pressure and get in the paint with physicality. The players understand that they need everybody to do what they want to do.
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