Ross Hodge post game summary Ohio State
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge discussed the matchup with Ohio State on post-game press conference and WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
–Hodge gave Ohio State credit because they showed a lot of fight. West Virginia got the lead and you saw that veteran toughness and experience shining through late for them. Felt like on West Virginia’s end, he is always going to tilt more toward the defensive side of the ball when you have a lead like that and he felt their physicality in the last 15-minutes increased. The Mountaineers got a little lax in their ball screen coverage and started getting collapsed and getting the ball close to the basket when they were in rotations and when they did make them miss they weren’t physical enough to come up with the rebounds. Offensively West Virginia was a little scattered but regardless what is happening on the offensive end he would like to think at that point in time they had enough points to win the game. He felt they answered but at the end of the game Bruce Thornton wouldn’t let them lose and imposed his will on the game. On his end, you’re kicking yourself a little bit because should you run at him, send an extra defender but it’s hard with guards like that. And on their end they ran at Honor Huff a couple times and gave up a layup and a wide open three. They put a little size on him but he’s a heck of a player. Disappointed in this one and he has to do a better job helping his players get over the finish line and the players have to do a better job of executing some things and just not doing silly things. They had a five point lead and gambled on a sideline out of bounds play and they get a three point play and then Thornton gets going.
–Hodge didn’t think they were extra physical with their press, but they disrupted them a little bit. He felt they had opportunities to finish on the back end of it and if people are going to press you, you have to make them pay. They had some opportunities with numbers to go finish and didn’t quite get it. So, then they’re pressing you with no recourse on the other end and no risk. You have to make people pay.
–Hodge said he’d have to really watch it to see if his team passed up some opportunities to attack. Both teams showed a lot of guts and a lot of heart but there were some tired guys on the floor. He felt it was more when they did have the opportunities they have to finish.
–Huff is an incredibly conditioned athlete. He takes his health and diet very seriously. He is an incredible worker and part of his gift is his ability to keep going and making shots.
–Chance Moore gives you a physical, downhill driver that can get to the foul line. He drew eight fouls and with the space that Huff can provide and you get a couple other guys hitting shots there is a lot of space out there and his physicality really comes into play.
–They had talked a little bit about taking a timeout on the final possession of regulation because they knew there was going to be a differential in the game clock and shot clock. If you have a busted floor you’re probably not going to get something better than that. You have to execute a little better and learn in those moments. You have to make a simpler, better basketball play. In those situations if you have the right personnel on the floor, more often than not you won’t take a timeout.
–Huff does it every day in practice and has done it since the moment he stepped on campus in June. Everything you see him doing in the game he does it every day in practice. From a coaching standpoint what you see happen in practice shows up in the games.
–It’s across the board and each game is a little bit different but ultimately it’s the second half those five guys are away from your bench and that’s where they’ve really got to grow together. Super disappointed, very painful situations to learn in but that’s ultimately what you’ve got to do. Those five guys that are down there on that end of the floor in the second half of those games together they have to be able to get stops. It was a double overtime game where they had 88 points, that’s just a game in his opinion they should win despite the great shot making and the talent. West Virginia had a second half lead and the game where they wanted it and you got to be able to finish it off with getting stops and be able to come up with rebounds. The execution offensively, the more you play together the more comfortable you’ll get in those moments and you’ll execute better. You saw Bruce Thornton’s comfort in those moments but West Virginia has to find a better way and he has to do a better job helping his team in those moments whether it’s calling a set play, calling a timeout, substituting and he is always going to start with what he can do better. There’s a million little plays. There wasn’t one player that didn’t have their hand in a play and when you lose a one-point game if they just would have done one thing you’re on the other side of these.
–Hodge said the week off gives them time to do what they need to do which is practice with their entire team. They missed a lot of time to have really difficult practices where you get people to the bottom of what they think is their bottom and then they can push a little bit deeper and find ways to get a couple stops in a row. They missed a lot of that time due to injuries in the pre-season so this is a good opportunity with some incredible data points to point to. If you just grab one ball today we win, it’s that simple.
–There’s times that you see a super tough, super gritty, super together team that’s executing on both ends of the floor and really has the confidence in their defense to stop people. There’s times where they’re not quite there. That’s part of his responsibility to help them get there but that’s what he loves about his team they take accountability and don’t point fingers. They’ve seen some growth but now they have to collectively figure out how to make a couple more plays. That’s life in the Big 12. We’ve been a basket away a couple times and it’s getting closer but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
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