Ross Hodge Points to Urgency, Execution After WVU Falls to Baylor

The West Virginia Mountaineers (14-8, 5-4) had their 16 home game winning streak snapped after falling to the Baylor Bears (12-9, 2-7) Saturday afternoon 63-53.

The Mountaineers were held to 36% (18-50) shooting from the floor, including 5-19 (26.3%) from three-point range. While Baylor had similar numbers in the second half (10-28 FG, 2-9 3PT), the Bears hit their final four buckets to pull away for the victory.

WVU head coach Ross Hodge sat down with the media following the game and discussed the offensive efficiencies and the overall performance against Baylor.

Opening Statement

"I want to give Coach (Scott) Drew and his team a ton of credit. Thought they started the game with a higher sense of just urgency and competitive spirit. Obviously, they have extremely talented players. I thought our urgency defensively to start the game wasn't at the level that it needed to be, and then, you start letting them get into a rhythm, start making some threes and dig ourselves a hole, which has now started to kind of become a little bit of a trend. The last four games, been down double digits, and you just can't continuously play with fire like that.

"Fought hard, got some deflections, made that run in the first half, they answered back. Didn't like how we started the second half either. Took the time out, fought back, scratched, clawed. Got it to three right there, which felt like it was kind of at three for forever. We had several opportunities to cut into it further but couldn't quite get over the hump. Then, they made some tough shots late. We had some defensive breakdowns, and when we did break down, they made it. So, to their credit, they did what they needed to do. They executed better. Coaches coached better, players played better, and we'll have to learn from it."

Long stretches without scoring

"You have to keep stopping them. You have to stop them for longer periods of time. I'd have to go back to and really watch the film to probably give you a full assessment of that stretch, but it felt like during that stretch, it was a combination of having some pretty good looks that we just couldn't get to go down, and then having some possessions that were, that were poorly coached possessions."

Not forcing bad shots during tough stretches

"You talk about it in timeouts, and you talk about it in huddles. We don't have to press offensively, but we're going to have to play with a higher level of desperation and urgency on the defensive end of the floor. That's where your urgency and your desperation needs to kick in. Offensively, you have to keep letting the game come to you and make the right play. Those guys all put a ton of time in, they work really hard, and more often than not, when they're in those positions, they've proven that they can make those shots."

The team’s adjustments following timeouts

"More than anything, it was the ability to get organized and put people exactly where you wanted them to be. So, everybody knew specifically where they were supposed to be and what they could do. Guys executed well in those situations. All the coaches at this level are really good (out of timeouts) whether it's baseline out of bounds, sideline out of bounds. You get your team over there, and you can really put them in the positions that you want. Defensively, you have to really have a high sense of urgency to combat that. Our guys have always done a pretty good job of executing out of timeouts."

Opening Statement

Long stretches without scoring

Not forcing bad shots during tough stretches

The team’s adjustments following timeouts

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