The West Virginia Mountaineers earned their 14th win of the season and kept their undefeated record at Hope Coliseum alive on Tuesday night as they knocked off the Kansas State Wildcats in a 59-54 win.
Very little about the WVU basketball win over the Wildcats could be described as pretty. In many ways, it was serviceable at best – not necessarily one that measures up to most of the competition you'll face in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers scored just five points in the first 10 minutes of the game, looking as offensively stagnant as they did against Arizona.
West Virginia bounced back, though, and rallied to take a six-point lead into the halftime break, and led by as many as 10 points (34-24) in the second half. But the second-half collapses that haunted the Mountaineers in non-conference play started to rear their ugly head and Kansas State battled back to take a 49-45 lead late in the game.
And while many WVU fans may have expected that to be the end of it, the Mountaineers dug deep, scoring 14 points in the final 3:30 of the game to re-take the lead and hold Kansas State off. And while the victory had West Virginia fans on edge from beginning to end, head coach Ross Hodge had some different thoughts on the thrilling win.
Ross Hodge Calls Kansas State Win His 'Favorite' Yet
After the game, Mountaineers head coach Ross Hodge shared his thoughts on what was a bit of an anxiety-inducing victory, and he said he believes it was his favorite so far during his first season at the helm of the program.
"This one may be my favorite win as a group because of what it took collectively and a belief standpoint. To have that bad of a start, to have that many periods of sloppy play," Hodge said. "And just to keep fighting and to keep believing, that's a mark of a good team."
Hodge actually said that he had predicted ahead of time that this game against the Wildcats could be a grind, as the Mountaineers are on their first game back from a west coast swing, fought inclement weather that affected their normal routine, and are nearing the midway mark of league play in one of the toughest conferences in the country.
The fact that his team was ready to handle such a battle and responded the way they did during their poor stretches of play likely reinforces Hodge's confidence in his team's buy-in and preparedness moving forward as the team nears the final month of Big 12 action.
"I think the adjective I used was gross," said Hodge. "You knew Kansas State was going to come and fight. I just kind of had a feel that this one could be a grind. It's such a good league. You're not just dealing with games individually. It's the residual impact...I knew it was gonna be a war and it really was."