WVU Head Coach Ross Hodge Reacts After Loss to BYU

WVU Head Coach Ross Hodge Reacts After Loss to BYU

West Virginia University head coach Ross Hodge shared his thoughts following the Mountaineers’ 68-48 loss to the BYU Cougars in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament Wednesday night at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

BYU freshman guard and projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, AJ Dybansta, led all scorers with 27 points. WVU senior guard Honor Huff led the Mountaineers with 17 points.

West Virginia struggled with turnovers early, giving the ball away 14 times in the first half and trailing by eight at halftime. BYU pulled away in the second half, shooting 50% from the floor (14-of-28) and making all four of their three-pointers through Kennard Davis Jr., who scored 17 second-half points and finished with 20. Overall, the Mountaineers committed 22 turnovers and shot just 38.1% from the field, including 27.8% from three-point range.

Hodge’s Opening Statement

“I want to start by giving coach Kevin Young and his team a lot of credit. They were the more physical team today.

“Obviously, we turned the ball over far too much. Considering we had 14 turnovers in the first half, I felt fortunate to only be down by eight. Our defense held up for the most part when we didn’t give the ball away, but we simply didn’t play well enough to beat a quality opponent at this time of year.”

Thoughts on BYU’s Defensive Effort Compared to Game One

“I think the biggest difference was their physicality and intensity. They made it hard for us to move the ball, rotated different lineups, and played with more athleticism and toughness.

“Players who didn’t get much time in our earlier matchup—like redshirt freshman Dominique Diomande, freshman Aleksej Kostic, junior Tyler Mrus, and senior Mihailo Boskovic—logged significant minutes and disrupted our game plan. They got their hands on the ball and took us out of our sets, whereas a couple weeks ago, the ball moved more freely.

“Turning it over 22 times doesn’t give you much of a chance, but credit to them—their physicality and intensity were definitely higher tonight.”