A pair of first-year coaches square off when West Virginia hosts Campbell on Thursday in Morgantown, W.Va.
Ross Hodge is the fourth West Virginia coach in the last three years and leads the Mountaineers after two seasons at North Texas. Meanwhile, John Andrzejek takes the helm of the Campbell program after serving as an assistant on Florida’s 2025 national championship team.
The Mountaineers (1-0) opened their season on Tuesday with a 70-54 home win over Mount St. Mary’s. Jasper Floyd scored a game-high 25 points and had five steals. Floyd, a senior guard, and senior center Brenen Lorient transferred from North Texas to follow Hodge to West Virginia.
Lorient scored 11 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in his Mountaineers debut. Last season, the 6-foot-9 forward was named American Athletic Conference First Team All-Conference and AAC Sixth Man of the Year.
Hodge said he expects a learning curve early in the season as he “tinkers” and “adjusts” the Mountaineers’ lineups and rotations.
“I think everything is going to be a little bit of a work in progress,” Hodge said. “For a while. All aspects.”
Even though WVU was outrebounded 38-29, they held Mt. Saint Mary’s to 39.1% shooting from the field.
“You’re always going to be settling in,” Hodge said. “And typically your defense will be a little bit ahead of your offense.”
Campbell opened its season with a 96-64 road loss on Monday to No. 24 Wisconsin. DJ Smith led the Fighting Camels (0-1) with 23 points and Chris Fields Jr. chipped in 13 points.
Andrzejek said he wants the Fighting Camels to “finish better,” and lauded the play of Smith, a Robert Morris transfer.
“I’m excited about DJ,” Andrzejek said. “I really am. He’s been one of our best guys through our scrimmages, throughout practice. I think he’s a guy that will be a bit of a match up threat in the CAA conference because he can really shoot the ball and is really quick and hard to keep in front.”
