West Virginia men's basketball took another tough loss on Saturday night as they fell to Ohio State 89-88 in a game that needed two overtime periods to sort things out. But in the end, it was the Mountaineers that walked away with one more loss on their record.
It is a loss that certainly sets West Virginia behind schedule if they hope to make the postseason, as the Mountaineers are now 1-4 against Power 5 competition in non-conference play, and their resume looks pretty unimpressive compared to teams they might be battling for a postseason spot come March.
The Mountaineers had their chances to win, however. They held a 16-point lead at one point in the game, and they had the ball with the game tied multiple timeouts remaining in the waning seconds of regulation, but held those timeouts and ended up turning the ball over on an offensive foul. These mishaps continued down to the final Ohio State possession, with WVU allowing Ohio State leading scorer Bruce Thornton, who finished with 21 points, to penetrate the lane and take an easy jumper in the paint to win the game.
After the game, WVU head coach Ross Hodge, who is in his first season with the Mountaineers as well as at the Power 5 level as a whole, talked about some of the decisions he made down the stretch and fully asked to be blamed for the loss due to some of his choices.
"At the end of the game, I'll take the blame on that one. Should have gotten the ball out of Thornton's hands. He willed them to victory. We should have done something else. I'm disappointed in myself," Hodge said.
Of course, that doesn't mean Hodge isn't the right guy for the job, and it's a bit early to sour on his tenure because of a few bad choices during his first season before Janaury even arrives. It's clear the team has talent, and Hodge felt that his team played well enough to emerge victorious in the end, had a few things gone differently for the Mountaineers. And while he accepted culpability for the loss, he promised fans that he plans on
Played well enough to win, but just couldn't pull it out in the end. Some of that's playing, some of that's coaching. We'll find a way to flip these and finish," he said.