What Ross Hodge Said Following the Win Over Niagara

The West Virginia Mountaineers (1-0) cruised to a 91-46 victory over the Niagara Purple Eagles (0-1) Monday night at Hope Coliseum.

West Virginia freshman point guard Miles Sadler lead all scorers with 16 points, while fifth year senior Brenen Lorient extended his double figure streak to 16 after producing 13 points and five rebounds.

WVU head coach Ross Hodge met with the media following the game and gave his initial thoughts on the Mountaineers’ season opening win.

Opening statement

I want to start out by thanking our student section, the Maniacs. They were incredible. They were loud from the beginning.

We had gotten off to good starts in our exhibitions. Each one of those games, we got off to really good starts. Obviously, it wasn't the case tonight. You have to give them credit. Made some tough shots, and then on the defensive end, they executed their game plan early and dictated the shots that we were taking. Not that they were terrible shots or anything, but just kind of packed it in. We had some good looks that didn't get to go down, but I thought (senior guard) Finley (Bizjack) started driving the ball. That kind of got us going. Got fouled. And then we were able to get some stops, long rebounds, turnovers. (Freshman guard) Miles (Sadler) got out in transition.

And really after the first six minutes of the game, I thought our defensive intensity was really good. We were turning them over in the first half, but they were still shooting a very high percentage. Second half, we were able to kind of marry both the concepts. We were turning them over, and we were able to get them to miss a little bit more.

I thought that second group, (junior guard) Martin (Somerville), (junior guard) Josan (Sanon), (fifth-year forward) Javen (Buchanan), (freshman center Amadou) Seini, really kind of galvanized us defensively, and their intensity started turning them over, got some layups, and felt like we really did a good job of playing the plays the right way for the extended period of the game.

On what he liked and did not like from tonight’s game

I thought early we didn't make them miss. There's a difference between making someone miss and hoping someone misses. We were a little shorter in our closeouts. They made the shots. It wasn't like they were wide open, but it just wasn't physical enough and hard enough defensively to start the game.

I did like the response. We haven't played a lot of basketball together, but again, Martin, Finley, (senior guard) Seydou (Traore), (fifth-year forward) Brenen (Lorient), Javen, those guys have played a lot of college basketball. I didn't feel like there was any panic with the start. Which sometimes that can happen, especially like your first home game. You're not getting shots to go down. You can feel the energy in the crowd, and they're ready to erupt. Then, you start getting the moans when the shots aren't going. I thought we just handled that well.

Inserting the press early in the contest

And made some minor adjustments with our ball screen coverages, tried to be a little more aggressive and, again, I think the strength of this team will be the numbers. And then when you combine that with the ability. We've talked about it, Amadu and Mo, those guys can move, and you should be able to wear some other teams down. But I thought that in itself got us more aggressive, got us off our heels a little bit. We were able to start getting deflections, long rebounds. Miles got out in transition, got some easy baskets, and kind of got us going.

Miles Sadler’s Mountaineer debut

I think that's how high the expectations are for him, and I think he welcomes that. But he played good in his first real college game, but he can play a lot better, and he knows that. There were just some small detail plays that I'm sure he would want back.

But his humility and his willingness to open himself up to being coached and wanting that, that's why his ceiling is what it is.

The thing you really appreciate about him is his competitive spirit. He's not afraid in those moments, and you saw it on full display. Nine assists, three turnovers, two rebounds, got to the line and had a couple of other opportunities that he just barely missed on.

Add us as a preferred source on Google