MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia plays its first game in nine days and only contest over a 19-day stretch at 7 p.m. Monday when the Mountaineers welcome Mississippi Valley State to Hope Coliseum.
It’s the final non-conference game for WVU (8-4), which has split four December matchups and failed to capitalize on several chances for quality wins outside of the Big 12. Most recently, the Mountaineers lost a 16-point second-half lead in an 89-88 double overtime setback to Ohio State on December 9 in Cleveland.
West Virginia’s four losses are by a total of 23 points, while seven of its eight wins are by at least 16. The Mountaineers have yet to win away from home or record a Quad 1 or Quad 2 victory, but first-year WVU head coach Ross Hodge is hopeful added time between games proves beneficial for a team that played 12 games over 40 days to start the season.
“When we have these film sessions, it’s not like they’re disagreeing where we’re hurting ourselves in these close games,” Hodge said. “They can see it and recognize it. Now we have to able to put ourselves through different situations in practices, and learn and grow from the experiences of these tough losses. But I’ve learned they have a great ability to bounce back from disappointment and difficult losses. It hasn’t impacted their belief. It hasn’t impacted their work ethic. It hasn’t impacted their coach-ability and that allows you to get better.”
The matchup with the Delta Devils (1-11) marks WVU’s last non-league game of the season before Big 12 play begins January 2 with a daunting challenge at Iowa State.
MVSU’s lone win this season came against Mississippi University for Women, as did one of its three victories last season.
The Delta Devils are No. 365 out of 365 Division I teams in NET rating, while the Cyclones are fourth, meaning the Mountaineers will oppose teams at the bottom and near the top of the country in consecutive contests.
For now, Hodge’s focus is more on self-improvement in favor of a specific opponent.
“What we’ve been able to do is full on competitive live scrimmage situations where your best players are playing your best players, and you can do it for long periods of time and get back to building the foundational habits and your base of what you want to be that you can only really do if you have the ability to practice,” Hodge said. “You scan through the offensive and defensive positions, but what you’re doing right now, and in particular [last week], you’re trying to get back to your base, what you know you should be doing and doing it at a high level.”
Among Big 12 teams, WVU averages the third-fewest points at 75.3 and is No. 2 in scoring defense at 60.9 points behind only Houston.
Yet consistency has plagued the Mountaineers, and stops were tough to come by in a 10-point loss to Xavier in November and throughout the second half and extra sessions in the one-point loss to the Buckeyes.
While seeking more consistency from personnel on an individual basis, Hodge feels the Mountaineers must find a way to complement their play on both ends to produce more favorable results.
“It becomes a matter of continuing to execute on whatever end of the floor you’re on. [Against Ohio State], we had 22 offensive possessions from when we were up 16 until the end of regulation. We had nine of our 15 turnovers, so the other 35 minutes of the game, we only turned it over six times, which you can win doing that. But we probably had two or three ill-advised shots that you’d like back and an 0 for 2 trip to the foul line, so 14 of our final 22 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. We’d like to get to a point where our defense can hold up regardless, but part of us being good defensively has always been mirrored with an efficient offense. That’s about as inefficient as you can be. They’re stopping you and scoring. Now you’re playing against their set defense, where earlier we were scoring and getting to the foul line, and they’re playing against our set defense — and our set defense is pretty good.”