Ross Hodge Reveals the Brutal Mistakes Behind West Virginia's Collapse vs. Ohio State

Early in the second half of last Saturday's game against Ohio State in Cleveland, it looked like the Mountaineers were set to cruise to a dominating victory, similarly to how they handled Pitt in the Backyard Brawl a month prior.

Instead, the defense fell apart, and the Buckeyes kept chipping away at the lead, ultimately sending the game to overtime and then winning in double OT.

For head coach Ross Hodge, it all circles back to the inefficiency of the offense. Sloppy play on that end of the floor made things much easier for Ohio State to run the floor and attack the basket.

“We had 22 offensive possessions the last sixteen minutes of that game. We had nine turnovers, nine of our fifteen. So the other 35 minutes of the game, you only turned it over six times, which you can win doing that. But in that time period, we had nine turnovers, probably two or three ill-advised shots that you’d like back, and then you have a trip where you go to the line and go 0/2. So 14 of your 22 final possessions are fairly empty. You’re putting a ton of pressure on your defense if that’s what your offense is going to be doing.

"It’s not like football, where your defense gets a stop, and they run off the field, and then your offense comes on. You do hear the term complimentary football, but basketball is the same way. If you look at some of those stretches where our defense has been its worst, it’s also coincided with our offense being inefficient. And then when you look at the time periods where our defense has been its best, it’s typically synced up with an efficient offense where you’re scoring, getting to the foul line, taking care of the ball.”

This isn't a West Virginia thing either. Most teams are going to play much better defensively when you're able to set up your defense and wait for the ball to be brought up the court. When you're constantly having to play defense in transition, it's no wonder you give up 52 points in the paint. If that type of paint domination happens in your half-court defense, then you have some major issues.

The good thing is, it's a fixable problem. Take care of the basketball, it's as simple as that. I mean, how many times did we see a ballhandler step out of bounds in that second half? The unforced turnovers are a killer, and when you turn it over that much, no lead is safe.

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