West Virginia looks to build on good stretches of play
For the first 15 minutes of the Lehigh game, West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge saw exactly what he wanted to see on the defensive end.
“Probably the best 15 minutes of defensive basketball that we’ve played since we’ve been together,” he said. “Our hand activity was really good and made it hard on them. And that led to transition and good offensive flow and the ball was moving and kind of saw us at what could be our best.”
During that stretch, the Mountaineers built a commanding lead through both ends of the floor and everybody was involved, leading to a 35-9 lead.
But that’s the difference between where the Mountaineers currently are and where they want to be because that effort wasn’t consistently maintained throughout.
The Mountaineers led 42-20 at half, but played to an even 27 each in the second half and getting a better start in the second frame has been a focus.
“We haven’t really come out of the half yet like we wanted to and that’s all (Hodge) talked about in the locker room when we went in there,” center Harlan Obioha said. “So I think that was just him being a little frustrated on us not being locked into what we’re doing.”
That’s something that Obioha, a redshirt senior, believes is on the upperclassmen on the roster as well because they have been in these situations before. So that message must be communicated to the younger players on the roster so they understand what to expect as well.
“And just staying together, being togetherness and having togetherness is something that I think everyone always has to work on, but we’re going to continue to do better at that too,” Obioha said.
The goal for Hodge is to challenge his team to continue to keep executing and playing possession by possession, which isn’t always easy to do given how games sometimes go.
“It’s hard because human nature does kick in a little bit. But that’s the challenge, and that’s what great teams do, and that’s what we would like to be,” Hodge said.
But still three games into the season, Hodge understands that his team must continue to improve in all aspects because while his basketball team likely played 20 minutes collectively good in the game, that total must continue to increase with each effort as the schedule becomes more difficult.
“We have to improve at everything,” he said.
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