Rapid Takeaways From West Virginia’s Humbling Afternoon Against No. 1 Arizona

Initial thoughts on West Virginia's loss to Arizona.

Jan 24, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; The West Virginia Mountaineers celebrates a three-point basket during the first half of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Saturday afternoon, the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats took care of business against the West Virginia Mountaineers, taking down Ross Hodge's squad by an 88-53 score.

A few of my initial thoughts from this one...

Huff is officially in a funk

Huff's slump started against Colorado, although he was able to put up 14 points in that one. Four of those points came from the charity stripe. In the last two, Huff has gone 6/24 from the field and 4/17 from three-point range. Ross Hodge can only do so much to free him up. The others on the floor are going to have to become more dangerous with the ball in their hands, which will then take some of that attention away. Still, Huff is clearly in a bit of a funk. He's not hitting shots he typically would make and has even missed some wide-open looks. Everyone goes through a little spell, so it's not overly concerning, but ideally, he'll snap out of it when the Mountaineers return home.

These elite teams just move at a different speed

You probably noticed it with Houston, but Arizona is just at a whole other level offensively. It's no wonder that they average nearly 90 points per game, ranking 8th nationally in that category. Whether it's Arizona, Houston, or Texas Tech, the one thing that is a common theme with these top teams in the Big 12 that I've watched, the ball doesn't stick very often. They play at a fast pace and get a ton of shots up. West Virginia can be successful playing at a snail's pace, but only if your defense is elite and you run effecient offense. This team isn't built to do that consistently.

Take the split, protect home floor

Some of you may have thought I was crazy for calling Wednesday's game against Arizona State a must-win situation for WVU. Well, this is exactly why it was a must-win. Taking down the No. 1 team in the country was not very likely, so you had to win in Tempe to avoid a 0-2 week and what would have been a really bad loss for the resume. WVU was able to take care of business, earning a split of the Arizona two-step. Now, you flush this loss quickly and come back home to try and remain perfect inside Hope Coliseum with home games against Kansas State and Baylor. Win those two, and you're 6-3 halfway through the league schedule with your only losses coming to arguably the top three teams in the league.

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