West Virginia is Winning Without Leaning on Honor Huff and That Changes Everything

To win in the Big 12, you have to find multiple ways to win. One way of doing it, or one player carrying you, is not sustainable. The coaches in this league are too good, and the players are too talented. They'll make adjustments, as we've seen over the past two games, as West Virginia has had to adjust with Honor Huff not getting the types of looks he's accustomed to getting.

“All year long, Honor has been our most consistent player on a night-in, night-out basis, but all those other guys have had big games in big moments," WVU head coach Ross Hodge said following the win over Arizona State. "The more ways you can win a game, probably the better. He gets so much attention that that opens the floor for those other people, and those guys stepped up in those moments really well.”

With so much attention being directed to the sharpshooter, Treysen Eaglestaff has come out of hibernation, posting back-to-back 20+ point games, hitting big shot after big shot, leading the Mountaineers to a pair of victories.

Treysen Eaglestaff's last two games:

vs. Colorado: 22 pts 9/14 FG (3/8 3FG), 6 REB, 3 AST
vs. Arizona State: 23 pts 8/14 FG (6/9 3FG), 7 REB, 2 AST pic.twitter.com/sEpNXlPkXb
— Schuyler Callihan (@Callihan_) January 22, 2026

“Honestly, he’s just comfortable," Hodge said when asked about what's changed for Eaglestaff. "He understands that we need him to be aggressive; we need his shotmaking. He bailed us out in that first half, man, especially in that stretch where he kind of willed us back into the game. His heart, and the work he has put in… it should be an inspiration to all of us. To have hard times, don’t blame people, don’t point the finger, don’t blame the coaches, don’t blame your teammates — just keeping working, keep trusting the process, keep believing. It was hard on him. Everybody was hard on him. I was hard on him. But his heart and his heart for other people, it’s awesome to see paying off.”

To many, seeing teams bottle up Huff is concerning. While you're right to feel that way, I would take the glass-half-full approach with it in that you've now found a way to win two straight games in this league where Huff is denied the ball. The more Eaglestaff becomes a consistent threat, opposing coaches aren't going to be able to spill so much of their resources to Huff.

That's when West Virginia can become really dangerous. Having another guy who can go off for 20+ on any given night makes you that much harder to defend. And that's not even factoring in guys like Brenen Lorient or Chance Moore, who can heat up in a hurry.

Obviously, Hodge would have liked this version of Eaglestaff to have shown up a little earlier, but better late than never, and the reality is, it's still pretty early in the season. There's plenty of time for West Virginia to get on a run and make it to the NCAA Tournament. Going 4-2 in the first six games of league play is a strong start.

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