MORGANTOWN — Whether or not it was supposed to be a secret scrimmage or not, the word is still getting out quickly on Ross Hodge and his WVU men’s basketball team.
Honor Huff, the nation’s leading 3-point shooter at Chattanooga last season, scored a game-high 32 points, while teammate Treysen Eaglestaff added 22, as the Mountaineers knocked off short-handed Maryland 95-73 on Saturday in a close-door scrimmage.
Huff went 10 of 18 from 3-point range and point guard Jasper Floyd added 11 points and nine assists.
All details were released by several sources on social media. Nothing official, including where the game was actually played, was released by either school.
That’s traditionally how these closed-door scrimmages – often termed secret scrimmages – have worked in the past, although the NCAA relaxed some of its limitations as to the release of information this year.
“The best thing is just getting out there and playing against somebody else,” Hodge said in his weekly press conference. “And like anything, you anticipate there’s going to be some good, there’s going to be some bad, and there’s going to be some ugly. That’s just the way it is.”
Judging by the early impressions, there wasn’t much ugly about the Mountaineers’ performance.
Maryland, coached by Buzz Williams, reportedly is dealing with some injury issues and held out at least two key players from the scrimmage. The Terrapins finished 27-9 last season and advanced to the Sweet 16. Williams was hired this season to replace Kevin Willard, who left to coach Villanova. Maryland did not receive any votes in the Associated Press preseason Top 25.
“What I would like to see more than anything for that game specifically is just our team supporting each other, staying together, playing through the negative plays, because you know they’re going to happen,” Hodge said. “That would be at the height of what I would like to see, knowing that there’s going to be a lot go wrong the first time out.”
