In its first three games, the WVU men’s basketball team was okay – but only okay. The defense was good, but not great. The offense was inconsistent at best.
It definitely appeared there was potential, but they needed some time to blend together.
But those three games were also against teams that weren’t all that tough.
Pitt would present a much bigger challenge, with players who could match WVU’s size and athleticism.
We got a glimpse of what a fully-loaded Ross Hodge team might look like – and it is good!
The Mountaineers broke open a close game with a late first half run, and were never challenged in the second half, and pulled out a big 71-49 win.
Harlan Obioha had a huge game (18 points and 6 rebounds, leading WVU in both), and had a fantastic quote after the game.
When asked if he saw something during the scouting that led him to believe he’d have a big game, he answered “Yeah, the front of the jersey said Pitt”.
WVU will be adding Chance Moore to its active roster beginning with this weekend’s Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic, and hopefully Jackson Fields will soon be cleared to playafter his injury. Those two should help make WVU even better.
Yes, there will be bumps in the road, and the Big 12 schedule is still loaded. But it’s easy to feel good about the future of the men’s basketball team.
Meanwhile, the women’s team saw the Backyard Brawl, and decided they would not be outdone.
They played down at the Greenbrier against a very good Duke squad (ranked #11 in the coaches poll, and #15 in the AP).
It was a close game during the first half, with Duke holding a 23-20 lead. But then things happened, and it resulted in an all-time great win.
After blocking the end of half shot attempt, a Duke player taunted WVU’s Jordan Harrison.
That led to a scuffle, which ended up with both players being ejected from the game. But that was just the beginning: several players on WVU’s bench left the bench area and went onto the floor.
The rules on this are cut-and-dry: if you leave the bench, it doesn’t matter whether or not you get involved (or even if your intentions are to de-escalate), you are automatically ejected.
So WVU was left with only five players remaining for the entire second half – only one of which is a starter. The Mountaineers didn’t fold, though – in fact, it was the exact opposite.
The reserves stepped up in a huge way, and outscored Duke 24-9 in the third quarter, and held on for an incredible 57-49 win.
The win was televised on ESPNU, and was featured nationally on highlight shows and on social media afterwards. They had been just outside the Top 25 before the game, but you can bet they will be moving into the Top 25 now.
WVU’s football game against Arizona State was a classic glass half-empty/half-full game.
If you’re a pessimist, you can point out that WVU’s rushing offense was pretty bad during the game (Rich Rod was very frustrated about that during his post-game interview).
They left a LOT on the table – they were within 10 yards of the end zone on their first two drives, and only scored three points (a field goal, and turnover on downs). That happened later, and WVU turned it over on downs again. So red zone execution was bad. There were issues with having to waste time outs, and some careless penalties. It was a game that WVU had a chance to win, but couldn’t pull it off.
The optimist, on the other hand, can point out that WVU kept fighting, and managed to take a fourth quarter lead. Many of the problems we saw against ASU are fixable (although it probably requires an upgrade in talent). And if you go back a month, taking Arizona State to the limit would have seemed like a fever dream.
They have a much needed week off this week, and they will finish out the season with Texas Tech, who is the Big 12’s top team.
WVU is unlikely to win that one, but there is every reason to believe that 2026 will see a marked improvement.
Notes: The men’s basketball team heads to Charleston, South Carolina, for a pair of games: Clemson (Friday, 6:30pm, ESPN2), and either Georgia or Xavier (Sunday, 1:00 or 3:30, ESPN)…The women’s team will host Appalachian State on Thursday (10:15am, ESPN Plus) for its annual Education Day, and then heads to the Bahamas for a holiday tourney.
They will face McNeese State on Monday 11/24 at 1:30, and then either Ohio State or Belmont on Wednesday (11:00am or 1:30pm)…The women’s soccer team easily dispatched Wagner, 5-0, in the first round of the NCAA Championships. They head to Georgetown for the second round on Thursday (time TBA as of this weekend)…The men’s soccer team lost a heartbreaker to Marhsallat the end of Overtime 3-2, in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
They will have gotten their NCAA Tournament information on Monday. The first round will be Thursday, with the second round on Sunday…Congratulations to the Cross Country team, who won the Mid-Atlantic NCAA Regional. Joy Naukot (19:11.8) and Mercy Kinyanjui (19:22.5) both recorded personal bests and broke the course record for the 6k event.
WVU finished ahead of Georgetown, Penn State, Villanova, and Princeton, who rounded out the Top 5. WVU and the Hoyas earned the automatic bids to the NCAA Championship, while Penn State and Villanova were at-large bids. Those Championships will be held this Saturday (Nov 22) in Columbia, MO, and it will be televised by ESPNU at 10:00am. Good luck!
