West Virginia coach Ross Hodge will take a deep look at his team’s lineup before hosting Little Rock on Tuesday in Morgantown, W. Va.
The Mountaineers (7-3) lost to Wake Forest 75-66 on Saturday in the Holiday Hoopfest in Charleston. Honor Huff led West Virginia with 24 points. Chance Moore scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds as he came off the bench to play starter’s minutes.
West Virginia held a 36-28 rebounding edge, but shot just 40.4% from the field and 21.4% (6 of 28) on 3-point attempts. When Hodge reviews the Wake Forest film, he said everything will be on the table when it comes to adjustments.
“From a coaching standpoint, there’s a few things we can look at,” Hodge said. “Are (the players) doing what we asked them to do hard enough? That’s where you usually start. The next thing on the checklist is, do you change personnel to see if the personnel can do what you are asking them to do? Then there is, as a coach, which sometimes we have a hard time doing, is if you are doing it hard enough and if they are the right personnel, maybe you need to try something else.”
Even though the Trojans (2-7) have lost five straight games, they have dangerous scorers dotting their lineup. In a 90-78 home loss to instate rival Arkansas State on Saturday, former Top 100 recruit Johnathan Lawson and Kachi Nzeh each topped the 30-point mark. It’s the first time in program history two players recorded 30 points in the same game.
Three players scored in double figures led by Lawson, the former Memphis and Creighton guard who ripped off a career-high 33 points, and Nzeh, the former Xavier and Penn State forward who added a career-high 30 points. Braxton Bayless pitched in 13 points. But only one other player scored for Little Rock, and Caleb Pennyfeather had just two points.
“We were feeding off each other,” Nzeh said of Lawson. “He was feeling, and I was feeling it. We were both working together and going with the flow.”
