Ross Hodge Gets After Aliou Dioum Following Rim-Hanging Technical

The preseason is for learning, and I think it's safe to say that West Virginia freshman big man Aliou Dioum learned a valuable lesson on Wednesday night that he won't soon forget, maybe ever.

Dioum slammed home a dunk with a little over five minutes to go in the Mountaineers' exhibition against Wheeling and was called for a technical for hanging onto the rim. Head coach Ross Hodge stormed onto the court, got right in Dioum's grill, and delivered a pretty stern reminder that you can't do that.

Dioum accepted the coaching, and Hodge was well within his rights to make his message loud and clear — one that most in attendance heard ringing throughout Hope Coliseum.

You can't make a mistake like that and not expect to be held accountable. It doesn't matter that it happened in a game that doesn't count and you're up 40. That is something that can really hurt your team if it doesn't get corrected and it happens again in a critical moment.

After the game, Hodge was asked about the play and mostly talked about how great a young man Dioum is and that he truly is a team-first kind of guy.

“Aliou has, like, if you’ve been around our team at all, his personality and his energy is crazy infectious, man. And he’s such a good teammate, and he cares so much about his team and everything that’s going on. And yeah, he just didn’t know any better, and now he does.”

Hodge elected to keep Dioum in the game, and he responded well. He finished the night with seven points on 3/3 shooting, along with two rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in seven minutes of action.

Dioum did not play in the first exhibition against Maryland, but did see 12 minutes of action against Glenville State last week, recording two points and six rebounds.

With Mouhamed Sylla and Amadou Seini locked into the first two spots on the depth chart, this will most likely be considered a development year for Dioum. Once he puts it all together, he could be one of the best defenders in the Big 12 because of his length, athleticism, and incredible motor.

West Virginia will open its regular season on Monday, November 2nd, at 7 p.m. ET against the Niagara Purple Eagles.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the West Virginia Mountaineers

Add us as a preferred source on Google