{"id":81385,"date":"2026-02-08T19:53:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/890563691"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:53:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:53:36","slug":"the-teacher-beats-the-student-as-mccasland-guides-no-23-texas-tech-over-hodge-and-west-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/the-teacher-beats-the-student-as-mccasland-guides-no-23-texas-tech-over-hodge-and-west-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"The teacher beats the student as McCasland guides No. 23 Texas Tech over Hodge and West Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) \u2014 When Ross Hodge was hired at West Virginia<\/a> last March, Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland predicted that his protege would find great success in the Big 12.<\/p>\n

It might not happen right away. At least, it didn\u2019t Sunday, when the teacher got the better of the student in their first meeting as opposing coaches at the major-college level.<\/p>\n

The good friends who spent seven seasons together at Arkansas State and North Texas shared an obligatory but brief hug during pregame at halfcourt \u2014 McCasland said Hodge told him to \u201csmile for the cameras\u201d \u2014 before the 13th-ranked Red Raiders beat the Mountaineers 70-63<\/a> to break a two-game losing streak.<\/p>\n

Hodge insisted there was no extra motivation to outduel McCasland. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really think about that too much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, the focus was figuring out how to slow down JT Toppin, Christian Anderson and Texas Tech. That didn\u2019t work out too well for the Mountaineers, either.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, Hodge was thrilled to see McCasland in person for the first time since Big 12 media days in October. <\/p>\n

On the court, Hodge\u2019s competitive fire came out.<\/p>\n

Right out of the gate, McCasland said he saw Hodge punch the scorer\u2019s table when Texas Tech turned loose balls into several 3-point baskets and never trailed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew what he meant,\u201d McCasland said. \u201cThat\u2019s his heart. He\u2019s a fighter.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hodge was McCasland\u2019s associate head coach for six seasons at North Texas and a year before that at Arkansas State. After McCasland took over at Texas Tech in 2023, Hodge became the Mean Green\u2019s head coach for two seasons.<\/p>\n

Hodge was the architect of McCasland\u2019s North Texas defense. The Mean Green had the nation\u2019s No. 1 scoring defense in 2021-22 and 2022-23, when they won 25 and a school-record 31 games, respectively, including capturing the 2023 NIT championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last season in Hodge\u2019s second as head coach, North Texas lost to UC Irvine in the NIT semifinals and finished 27-9.<\/p>\n

Hodge continued his defense-first philosophy at West Virginia. The Mountaineers are second in scoring defense behind Houston in the Big 12 and seventh nationally, allowing 63.3 points per game.<\/p>\n

Scoring, though, has been a problem. West Virginia failed to reach 60 points in its three previous games and barely did Sunday. <\/p>\n

But McCasland said Hodge\u2019s time will come.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is built for this in a way that I cannot explain,\u201d McCasland said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the toughest, most resilient, demanding people in the right way. And he believes in people in a real way. And it\u2019s not tied to hoops.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCasland and Hodge met for about 15 minutes at the Texas Tech team hotel on Saturday night. Their conversation was typical for them: Family and team. No talking about basketball. The reunion meant \u201ca lot of emotions,\u201d McCasland said. \u201cI love his family. His mom was here. His sister was here. His wife texts my wife.\u201d <\/p>\n

Each coach exchanged hugs at the game with the opposing staffs, many of whom they\u2019ve known for years.<\/p>\n

In the end, McCasland said the game, regardless of outcome, would be positive for himself and Hodge because \u201che\u2019s always made me better, as a person, as a husband, as a coach. So I just knew this game would make us better. Either way. Win or lose. And that\u2019s his approach and I just love him because I know what a competitor he is.\u201d <\/p>\n

West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker was in the same role at North Texas when he hired both McCasland and Hodge at North Texas. He hugged McCasland before the game and said \u201cI told him good luck the rest of the year, but not today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaches and players go up against former schools all the time and that\u2019s not too difficult, but \u201cit is hard to compete against the people that you love,\u201d Baker said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to see them do well, but it is hard. I know those two guys love each other. I don\u2019t know if they love me or not, but I do love them. They are two great, great people.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here<\/a> and here<\/a> (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… West Virginia last March, Texas Tech<\/span> coach Grant McCasland predicted\u00e2\u0080\u00a6 … Virginia last March, Texas Tech<\/span> coach Grant McCasland predicted that … Toppin, Christian Anderson and Texas Tech<\/span>. That didn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t work … scorer\u00e2\u0080\u0099s table when Texas Tech<\/span> turned loose balls into …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}