Stock Up, Stock Down: A Whole Lot of Bad as WVU Puts Up a Stinker in the Little Apple

Evaluations following West Virginia's loss to Kansas State.

Mar 3, 2026; Manhattan, Kansas, USA; Kansas State Wildcats guard David Castillo (10) is guarded by West Virginia Mountaineers guard Honor Huff (3) during the second half at Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-Imagn Images | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

Welp, the West Virginia Mountaineers laid an egg on Tuesday night against Kansas State, dropping to 17-13 (8-9) on the season.

As always, it's time to update our WVU basketball stock report.

Stock Down: Harlan Obioha

Once again, the big man was a non-factor in the game. You can blame that on early foul trouble in both halves, but I'd respond with he was in poor position on three of those four fouls, and perhaps all four. Offensively, he passed up at least three good looks just a few feet away from the basket, ultimately passing the ball even deeper in the post, leading to a lower percentage result. WVU needs to get a more athletic, more aggressive big man this offseason.

Stock Down: Senior leadership

For a group that has done a good job for the majority of the year of staying together and not allowing a bad stretch get to them, these last handful of losses have exposed a true lack of desire. Heck, even Ross Hodge called it out last night in his radio interview, saying, "It wasn't good enough." WVU had everything still in front of them with five games left in the regular season. Heck, they still had everything left ahead of them after losing to Utah, TCU, and Oklahoma State, and yet the effort just evaporated when they needed it most.

Stock Up: DJ Thomas

Even in a losing effort, the true freshman flashed on the offensive end once again. He still has a lot of things to clean up and fine-tune, but there's absolutely a quality Big 12 player in there. He'll need to bulk up this offseason to be able to hold his own more on the defensive end and be more of a consistent force on the interior.

Stock Down: Ross Hodge

I've been trying to cool folks down on Hodge all year long, and I still remain firm in my stance that this thing just needs time. That said, last night was an embarrassment. When P.J. Haggerty was ruled out, all of a sudden, I got that weird feeling that somehow it would be the opposite of good news because it further played into WVU's favor. It was a sleepy atmosphere against a bad team, and you saw how that lack of urgency cost them. You can't lose games to the two worst teams in the Big 12 and not expect to receive criticism. Mountaineer fans have every right to be concerned. It's up to him to get it fixed.