WVU basketball fans might not have expected much from the Campbell Fighting Camels entering their showdown with the Mountaineers on Thursday night, but that wasn't the case for head coach Ross Hodge.
You see, Hodge had seen the Camels keep the game close well into the second-half in an eventual 20-plus point loss to No. 24 Wisconsin earlier this week, so when West Virginia had to scrape out a single-digit win against Campbell, he wasn't surprised.
“I told you guys, its easy to just kind of check scores and that’s what people do, I actually watch film…it was everything I anticipated, and they had our full respect. That’s what we anticipated," Hodge told Mountaineer Sports Network after the win.
It's a mindset that Hodge wants to instill in his team, actually. He doesn't want them overlooking an opponent like Campbell, no matter what conference they're in or what level of Division 1 they play at. Hodge and most of his team recently came from that level of play, after all, and not underestimating their opponent allows for the Mountaineers to be prepared when they get a tougher challenge than they might expect.
"A lot of times in these games, when you respect your opponent, which we do – we respect everyone, we fear nobody...you anticipate that it is going to be a challenge so that, when you are challenged, you don't have that starry-eyed look," Hodge added.. "That's not our mindset. We knew we were in a dogfight. We came up with just enough stops. Stepped up to the free throw in the spotlight."
And while the close game may appear concerning to some, Hodge didn't seem too put out by how the game played out down the stretch. While he acknowledged some of his disappointments, he also had a strong statement for anyone who might be upset with the team walking away from Hope Coliseum on Thursday still undefeated.
"We’re going to celebrate wins. We’re never going to apologize for wins, ever. It's hard," Hodge said. “We’re going to celebrate wins, but we know we need to be better.”