Ross Hodge Explains What Treysen Eaglestaff Must Do to Stay on the Floor Consistently

Treysen Eaglestaff has not been the type of impact player that folks thought he would be through the first twelve games of his West Virginia career, and with just one buy game standing in between the Mountaineers and the start of a brutal 18-game Big 12 schedule, time is ticking for him to get things going.

Just a few games into the season, you could tell Eaglestaff was being picky with his shots and lacked the aggression that made him so dangerous at North Dakota. While he was feeling things out, he was at least playing well on the defensive end and rebounding the ball. In the loss to Ohio State, that part of his game faltered, resulting in some time on the bench in place of Chance Moore.

So, what is the expectation for him moving forward? Head coach Ross Hodge was asked about that on Thursday during a session with the media.

“Being able to execute defensively is going to be big. We talked about that, and he had done a really good job of that. He really bought into it, and that’s where I thought he was impacting winning regardless of whether his shot’s going in or out. That’s where we put our trust and our hope in is on the defensive end of the floor. If he’s executing defensively, that’s always going to allow him or anybody (to play more). In the case of Saturday night, he didn’t execute early in the second half, and it cost us, and then you couple that with you’re not having the most productive offensive night, then you don’t get to be in the game at that moment. It’s not like he’s meeting it with resistance or blame, or he doesn’t have the heart or the attitude that he’s getting screwed, or I’m picking on him. He knows he needs to be better, and he’s working really hard to be better.”

As I highlighted earlier in the week, Eaglestaff's numbers have been rough to look at in general, but specifically against high majors. In games against such opponents, he's shooting a measly 12/39 (31%) from the floor and 3/19 (15%) from three-point range.

Yes, playing better defense will keep him on the floor as Hodge mentioned, but that's not what he was brought to Morgantown for. It was his shotmaking ability, and at some point, that has to be a consistent presence in this WVU offense.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI