The West Virginia Mountaineers faced a tough defeat against the Utah Utes on Wednesday night, falling 61-56. With this loss, West Virginia”s record dropped to 16-10 overall and 7-6 in conference play. In a game characterized by poor shooting, the Mountaineers managed just 30.4% from the field and only hit 2 of 12 three-point attempts in the first half. At one point, they trailed by as many as 15 points but mounted a late comeback, coming within two points with four minutes left, yet could not secure the win.
After the game, head coach Ross Hodge addressed the media, offering insights into his team”s performance at Hope Coliseum. “I want to give coach Alex Jensen and his team all the credit in the world. They”ve been close in previous games and have faced challenges like this before, even in the recent game against Cincinnati. I was fully aware of the challenge we had ahead of us,” he stated.
Hodge noted that Utah set the tone early in the game with their aggression and effective shooting. “They started the game with force and pace, and we just didn”t match that. A coach has many responsibilities, but the primary one is to ensure the team is ready to play, and there have been too many instances where we haven”t been prepared. I take the blame for that,” he admitted.
“We have a small margin for error, and when we continually put ourselves in difficult positions, it makes it harder to recover. While I commend our fight and determination to come back in games, we need to improve our consistency, both individually and as a team, to avoid digging ourselves into these holes,” Hodge added.
He reflected on the final possession of the game, where the team had an opportunity to tie the score. “We were down three with 25 seconds left. In those situations, a quick two is generally preferable to a three. When the play broke down, I shouldn”t have left senior guard Honor Huff isolated. I should have called a timeout, so that was on me,” he explained.
Despite the challenges, Hodge praised the team”s ability to stay united and expressed the need for improvement. “There”s something leading to our slow starts and being down by 16, 14, or 15 points. We need to figure that out. The execution on the final play showed we knew what we wanted to do, but the execution was lacking,” he concluded.
The Mountaineers will need to regroup quickly as they look to bounce back from this loss and improve their performance in upcoming games.
