Rapid Takeaways From West Virginia's First Road Win of the Season

Initial thoughts following West Virginia's win over Arizona State.

Jan 21, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Jasper Floyd (1) celebrates a shot against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the first half at Desert Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

And finally, the West Virginia Mountaineers have their first road win of the season, defeating the Arizona State Sun Devils by a score of 75-63.

Per usual, a few of my thoughts from this one...

Eaglestaff playing with confidence is a beautiful thing

When your shot isn't falling for a long period of time, it can start to take away your aggression, even for a career high volume shooter like Treysen Eaglestaff. There were games toward the end of non-conference play where he either didn't score, didn't take a shot, or finished with just a handful of points. That 22-point breakout game against Colorado unlocked his confidence, and all of a sudden, he's beginning to play up to expectations. If this continues, WVU's chances of making the NCAA Tournament will significantly increase.

Jasper Floyd, have yourself a night

Floyd hasn't been much of an offensive threat this season, particularly in Big 12 play. Tonight, he came up with some big-time buckets in big-time moments. He drilled a pair of threes in the second half, attacked the basket, and finished through contact at the rim. The fact that West Virginia was able to get that kind of production out of him was surprising, but it came at a good time with Honor Huff being quiet for the second straight game.

Winning without Honor

Huff was limited to 14 points against Colorado, and we all thought that was a quiet night for him. Tonight, he was almost non-existent offensively, finishing the game with just _ points. While it may be a little concerning that teams are starting to figure out how to take him out of the offensive gameplan, I'd take the glass-half-full approach to this and consider it a big deal that they've now won two straight games where he didn't have a big impact on that end of the floor. Now, if he and Eaglestaff are clicking on the same night, whew. That could get scary.

One they needed

We can call every game a must-win, but the reality is, not all of them truly are. If you want to punch your ticket to the dance, you couldn't afford to drop this one, although it was on the road. No. 1 Arizona is waiting on deck, and odds are against you in a big way for that one. Picking up that first road win and moving to 4-2 in the Big 12 starts getting people's attention.

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