Ross Hodge on K-State’s Offensive Threats and Why Efficiency Matters for WVU

The West Virginia Mountaineers (13-7, 4-3) host the Kansas State Wildcats (10-10, 1-6) Tuesday night at the Hope Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. EST and the action will be televised on FS1.

West Virginia is looking to get back in the win column after concluding a two-game tour in Arizona, which ended with a loss against top-ranked Arizona after taking down Arizona State to begin the trip.

WVU head coach Ross Hodge met with the media on Monday to discuss facing some of the top teams in the country and the matchup against Kansas State.

The Big 12 showcasing high level offenses

The skill level of players today and then the ability to shoot the ball from multiple positions, it’s challenging on defenses. And then, in particular, when you don’t have a lot of collective experience or you have a lot of turnover on rosters, that roster continuity and the ability to make adjustments throughout games you’re strained a little bit because you’re still trying to get a baseline defensively and what you’re trying to do. But on the other side of it, if you look at the teams that are atop of the Big 12, Arizona is third in adjustive defensively in the country, Iowa State’s right up there, Houston’s right up there, so some of it remains very similar that the best defensive teams have the best chance to win this league.

A preview of the K-State offense

“Played against (junior guard) PJ (Haggerty) the last two years. His first year he was at Tulsa, which was in our league, and then last year, there at Memphis. He’s an incredible individual talent that does such a good job of drawing fouls. They do a good job of putting the ball in his hands in space and he’s shooting around him. He’s an extremely tough cover – has a great touch in the midrange and puts so much pressure on your defense. You have to have really good discipline at the end of the play to make sure you’re showing your hands and not picking up any cheap fouls.

“They’ve battled some injuries as of late and that’s distorted their team a little bit. So, they’re still trying to find themselves with the adjustments in their rosters, but still a very dangerous an offensive team. Again, led by him (PJ), (sophomore guard David) Castillo and (senior guard Nate) Johnson are both capable of making shots. You saw what (freshman forward Andrej) Kostic did in that Kansas game – he made four threes. So, they have good space around him, and he can make shots and then they have the ultimate leverage piece in Haggerty that makes it difficult to defend.”

West Virginia in low vs. high scoring games

“I think more so than the actual number specifically when you look at 80’s and 70’s. We need to be efficient offensively regardless of the raw number. If you look at our Arizona State game, 75-63, but we were incredibly efficient in points per possession and we were able to hold them under a point per possession which is what you want to do. I don’t think it to our benefit to get in an up and down high possession, high scoring game with a team like Kansas State – I feel like that’s when they’re at their best, but we also got to be able to take advantage when we do have opportunities in transition – when need to be opportunistic and can’t turn it into a complete halfcourt game only because it’s hard to score in the halfcourt. So, we need to be efficient offensively that certainly helps your defense get back, keep the ball out of the paint, keep them off the foul line, keep Haggerty off the foul line, and that allows us to play with some flow offensively.”

The Big 12 showcasing high level offenses

A preview of the K-State offense

West Virginia in low vs. high scoring games

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI