Everything Ross Hodge Said Following the Loss to Kansas State

The West Virginia Mountaineers (17-13, 8-9) fell to the Kansas State Wildcats (12-18, 3-14) Tuesday night 65-63.

West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge met with the media following the game and gave his initial thoughts on the Mountaineers loss to the Wildcats.

Opening statement

Give (interim head coach Matthew) Driscoll and his group a lot of credit, man. It's no secret they've had their fair share of adversity this season - just a myriad of things that have happened and injuries and the coaching change and for them to still hang in there and still fight this thing all the way out, I think is to be commended.

On our end, felt like we had some opportunities early in the first half and felt like we probably should have been. Had an opportunity to be up a little more than just three in the first half when they were kind of trying to find their footing and we just couldn't make the plays necessary. And then, you give a team like that some hope and some life and they still have some talented players and the sense of urgency and desire to win the game I felt like shifted to them early in that second half and they made all the hustle plays and they made all the physical plays and that was resulted in what got us in the hole that we were in.

Kansas State 19-0 run

I thought the urgency with which they were playing with to beat us to loose balls. There was a lot of plays, but I thought the play was symbiotic of us in that second half when (senior forward Khamari) McGriff blocked our pass, and we had five or six feet in front of him to go get the loose ball and he beat us to that loose ball and then made a tough finish at the end of it. I thought that play symbolized that entire stretch and in a lot of ways that was the difference in the game.

The difference between the first and second game between the two programs

IT wasn't a whole lot a whole lot different honestly. McGriff's physical impact on the game and the rim presence was certainly different. He didn't play in the first game, but in a lot of ways we were very fortunate to win the first game we played them. We were down late, not this big of a not this big of a hole, but we were down late inside four minutes and we were able to make a couple plays down the stretch and tonight we weren't.

Difference in K-State since the first matchup

I think the biggest thing that jumps out is probably Nate Johnson's aggressiveness. He's been uber aggressive late and came into this one averaging almost 20 points a game during that time period. Like I said, McGriff didn't play in the first game, but the big fella did (junior center Dorin) Buca, but I thought McGriff's activity and physicality and his layup making ability was a separator today than that was different in the first one.

The absence of Kansas State leading scoring PJ Haggerty

it gives other people opportunities to step in to some situations. I thought (senior guard) CJ Jones stepped in and made a couple threes today. McGriff probably got more opportunities around the basket. PJ does such a good job of initiating offense and drawing fouls and he's such a tough cover. If we were a team that could easily get to like in the 80s offensively, then maybe you would feel a little bit better about him not playing because you maybe would feel like they just don't have enough offense to keep up. but when you can be offensively challenged at times like we are, it can be a close game and like I said, the first game was very close and anticipated that and I did feel like early on in the first half and kind of throughout that first half, I felt like we had some opportunities to get a little separation. Maybe the game's different in that point, but we couldn't. I mean, they took the ball from us to start the second half. They made the physical plays. So, in a lot of ways, you deserve what you get, and they made the tough physical plays and that's why they were in the position that they were in. But there were some opportunities in the first half that we left on the board offensively that maybe you have a little bigger cushion than just three at the first half.