Ross Hodge Expects WVU Basketball's Harlan Obioha To Draw Attention After Pitt Win

On Thursday night, WVU men's basketball got back bragging rights in The Backyard Brawl with a massive 71-49 victory over the Pitt Panthers. And while a win in the Brawl is a massive story in and of itself in Morgantown, a major storyline to keep an eye on for this WVU basketball is 7-foot center Harlan Obioha and what he can do for the Mountaineers.

It felt like Obioha's full potential was unlocked for the first time during the regular season for the Mountaineers in the win against Pitt, as he exploded for 19 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in the WVU win.

“The front of their jersey said Pitt on it. Whenever I see that, it’s really just red,” Obioha said during the postgame press conference.

“He’s being very humble right now,” point guard Jasper Floyd said. “They are a good team and they have good players, but before the game he said that he was licking his chops and he was going to eat tonight. So that was not surprising.”

Panthers' head coach Jeff Capel added that Obioha "kicked our butt," and it's hard to disagree with that assessment. Obioha's performance in a historic win for head coach Ross Hodge and his program showed that he can live up to his preseason hype and be one of the best post players in recent years for the Mountaineers and have his way against Power 5 competition. If he can continue this type of play against this level of talent, he will be a very dangerous weapon for WVU this year – the type they've been missing in recent years.

Head coach Ross Hodge realizes that, and expects Obioha to draw a bit more attention in future game plans from opponents. In fact, he thinks the team's the Mountaineers are going to be forced to make some tough decisions regarding Obioha and how they choose to defend against him.

"People are going to have to start deciding if they're going to double-team him or not," Hodge said.