WVU Basketball HC Ross Hodge Talks Lorient Absence, Rebounding in Iowa State Loss

WVU basketball was shorthanded Friday night in its 80-59 loss to No. 3 Iowa State, as senior forward Brenen Lorient was out with an injury. Head coach Ross Hodge broke down the impact his absence to the media in the postgame press conference, emphasizing the many roles Lorient can fill for the Mountaineers.

“B-Lo is probably our best athlete, one of our best rebounders, another just secondary play maker. He’s good in those shorts and pockets when they put two on the ball. Don’t know if he would have impacted how it ended ultimately, but he’s a good player… probably your best individual defender as well,” Hodge said.

The two major factors that disappointed Hodge the most were defensive execution and rebounding, specifically preventing second chance points. In the first half, Iowa State had 11 offensive rebounds for 11 second chance points.

“I thought our first shot defense in the first half was actually pretty good, and then we just gave them too many second chance points… you just can’t give a team with that level of talent and offensive efficiency second chances,” Hodge added.

Hodge said he was happy with how the Mountaineers handled the ball and limited turnovers, but the team did not do enough on either end of the floor to complement the ball security.

“If you’d have told me going into the game that we only had 12 turnovers, that was kind of the number that I thought, if we kept it around that area, we’d give ourself a chance,” Hodge said. “But, didn’t make enough shots and didn’t defend well enough despite not turning the ball over.

WVU basketball will play again at 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 at the Hope Coliseum when the Mountaineers host the Cincinnati Bearcats.

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