West Virginia wraps up the first half of its Big 12 slate this afternoon with a home matchup against Baylor, tipping off at 4 p.m. And no matter what happens in this one, the Mountaineers have already locked in a winning record through the midpoint of conference play - a solid early return for Ross Hodge in his debut season at the helm.
Considering the gauntlet they've run - four ranked opponents, including three top-seven teams on the road - it's hard not to be encouraged by where this team stands. The resume isn’t just respectable; it’s battle-tested. Hodge’s squad has been thrown into the fire early, and while there have been growing pains, the trajectory feels promising.
Still, there’s one area that continues to nag at this group: slow starts.
It’s been a recurring theme - West Virginia often finds itself digging out of early holes, trying to play catch-up before the first media timeout. And while the final scores have sometimes masked it, the sluggish beginnings haven’t gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.
“You're always evaluating everything,” Hodge said. “Some of it is you're getting good looks and you're not making them.
Some of it is you're trying to figure out where your leverage pieces are going to come from. How do you leverage the defense?
Because teams will play different teams differently.”
That’s a coach speaking like someone deep in the lab - someone who knows his team is close but still figuring out how to consistently flip the switch from the opening tip. The Mountaineers aren’t struggling to generate opportunities; they’re just not capitalizing on them early. And in a league as unforgiving as the Big 12, where every possession can tilt momentum, that matters.
Hodge’s comments hint at a team still searching for its identity in the opening minutes - the right combinations, the right matchups, the right tone-setters. It’s not just about knocking down shots; it’s about establishing control, dictating pace, and forcing opponents to adjust rather than reacting to them.
There’s no panic in Morgantown, though. Far from it.
This is a team that’s already shown it can hang with elite competition, and it’s doing so while still figuring things out. That’s a good place to be in early February.
The second half of the Big 12 grind won’t get any easier, but if West Virginia can iron out those early-game wrinkles, they’ve got the pieces to make some real noise down the stretch.