Four Rapid Takeaways Following WVU's Win Over Mount St. Mary's

The Mountaineers take game one of the season.

West Virginia University basketball | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

It was a slow start, but West Virginia found a way to get it done and hand Ross Hodge his first career victory as the Mountaineers' head coach, defeating Mount St. Mary's by a 70-54 score.

Some takeaways from this one...

Umm rebounding???

The number one thing I was concerned with was this team's physicality, as I mentioned earlier in the day on Between The Eers. They already lack depth in the frontcourt, and without Jackson Fields, it makes them even more vulnerable on the glass and in the paint. Treysen Eaglestaff is a thin build for a three, which makes this a very disadvantaged team in the rebounding category. It showed up tonight with The Mount holding a 38-29 edge.

Free-throw shooting may actually be a concern

I noted this in the exhibition against Wheeling, but didn't want to make too much of it, with most of those misses coming from the big man Harlan Obioha, but tonight, that concern proved to be valid. WVU got to the free-throw line a ton, but it felt impossible for anyone to go a perfect 2/2 in a single trip. This can improve, so we'll just keep an eye on it for now and not truly sound the alarm.

Defense is as good as advertised

It's not Press Virginia, but this group can really ramp up the pressure, just in a different way. Their on-ball pressure is really good and can be, at times, a little too aggressive, which is why you saw some drive-bys here and there. The one thing it looks like they will do every night is make teams uncomfortable and force some really tough shots. A lot of room for improvement, but solid start.

Too many missed bunnies

One of the things that plagues West Virginia's efficiency in this game was its inability to finish at or near the rim. They had several high-percentage looks and either laid it up too high on the glass or didn't have the right touch on it. Credit The Mount's defenders for challenging some of those shots, but still, going 9/18 on layups is not ideal.

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