Ross Hodge Discusses the OT Win Over Oklahoma in the College Basketball Crown

The West Virginia Mountaineers (21-14) came back from seven points down with four minutes remaining in regulation to send it to overtime and pulled away from the Oklahoma Sooners (20-16) in the extra period for the 89-82 win in the College Basketball Crown Championship.

West Virginia senior guard Honor Huff scored a career-high 38 points to lead all scorers, senior forward Chance Moore scored 16 second half points to finish with a double double, 19 points and 10 rebounds, and senior forward Brenen Lorient recorded 15 points and eight rebounds.

WVU head coach Ross Hodge met with the media following the game and gave his assessment of the overtime win

Opening statement

I want to start out by just congratulating (head) coach (Porter) Moser and that team on a great season. We felt watching them that they easily could have been a second weekend team in the NCAA tournament and I think it speaks a lot to the character of their group as well to deal with disappointment being one of the last teams out of the NCAA tournament and deciding to come out here and put themselves in in a position to win a championship.

And just an incredible basketball game, a lot of ebbs and flows. (West Virginia senior guard) Honor (Huff) obviously got us off to an incredible start with his shot making, and we knew they were going to answer because they have so much talent on the offensive end of the floor and we didn't defend great, but I think they had a lot to do with it. They put us in space, put us in tough positions, and then like this group can do and has shown an ability to do all year long, when it looked like we were just about done for their competitive spirit and their togetherness and their love for each other kicks in and made big plays, started getting stops.

I thought kind of an unsung hero of the game was (West Virginia senior center) Harlan (Obioha) and he got in a little bit of foul trouble in the first half and that hurt us. He only scored one basket in the game, but if you look at his plus minus, he was a plus 35 and he really anchored us in the paint. (West Virginia senior guard) Jasper (Floyd) made big shots. (West Virginia senior guard) Chance (Moore) got us going there in the second half when we were down just driving the ball and just a just a huge monster effort from everybody.

West Virginia made 27 threes the last two games

Well, we have two of the best shooters in the country, and Honor led the country in threes last year and he didn't make one in the first game. So, law of averages tell you he's going to make a couple. And when you get outside of your league, like league play is such a grind and there's such a familiarity with each other and it's a Saturday and a Tuesday and a Thursday and then a Sunday, and the time off probably helped to be honest - you get fresh and you get some rejuvenation and again, I thought our our guys just did a great job of making the right play and the shots.

WVU senior guard Treysen Eaglestaff playing through injuries

Trey's been playing through a lot. He would never make an excuse and he would never want me to say it but I am going to say it. He was dealing with a really bad turf toe at the end of our regular season. Had we beat BYU in the conference tournament, quarterfinal or first round, he probably wouldn't have been able to play the next game. And he was probably like 40% then. The time off was really good for him and he probably came back about 75, 80%. But the accumulative effect of playing so many games and so many days takes a toll on you. And then if anybody's dealt with an injury before, you start overcompensating and you run a little different, and so, he would never say it. And we're a no excuse culture, we don't make excuses. We never have. There's excuses and there's reasons. And so, he's been he's been gutting through it the whole end of the season.

West Virginia senior center Harlan Obioha's defense

Just hi physicality around the basket and his ability to play intelligently without fouling and wall up and just kind of like all the little nuances that we've actually been practicing since June 1st, turning and running, showing your hands, walling up. He had a close out on the corner and (Oklahoma senior forward) Tae Davis who's a great player drove baseline and Harland turned and run, showed his hand, got a deflection and again, I think those are the little things that just show how far this team has came and how much work he's put in to be able to do that. He's a large man and it's impressive.