What if Last Night's Performance Wasn't an Anomaly for Treysen Eaglestaff?

The senior wing finally had his breakout game for WVU with 22 points in the win over Colorado.

Jan 17, 2026; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Treysen Eaglestaff (52) dribbles against Colorado Buffaloes guard Barrington Hargress (24) during the second half at Hope Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

The jump from the Summit League to Big 12 basketball has been a bit of a challenge for North Dakota transfer Treysen Eaglestaff, and I'm positive he'd be the first to admit he's underperformed to this point in the season.

Last night, however, the switch flipped, and he became the dynamic scorer everyone had hoped he would be when West Virginia first landed him out of the portal. And boy, did it come at the perfect time. Honor Huff was bottled up for the majority of the night, so if it weren't for Eaglestaff stepping up, the Mountaineers would have been in big trouble.

He ended the night with 22 points on 9/14 shooting (3/8 3FG) while also adding six rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 37 minutes, which is one minute shy of a season-high (the Kansas game).

"Trey has a huge heart. I've mentioned that before. He's such a hard worker," WVU head coach Ross Hodge said in his postgame press conference. "He cares about this place, he cares about this state. I think maybe early on, you'd have to ask him, maybe he cared too much, if that's possible. I always believed in him, and his teammates always believed in him. He always believed in himself, and he did it with work."

Now the hard part...

Showing up in the clutch when WVU absolutely needed him to was a big deal, so let's not lose sight of that. But now the question is, can he do this with more regularity? Can he be consistent? Hodge doesn't need him to go for 20 every night. Every once in a while would be great, especially when the opposing team takes Huff out of the game. Posting 12-15 points, creating plays for his teammates, continuing to compete on the boards, and holding his own on the defensive end should be the expectation. If Hodge can get that out of him, then the Mountaineers will absolutely have a chance to go dancing this March.

I don't want to get into being too silly here, but if Eaglestaff does what he did last night on a nightly basis and Huff continues to do his thing, WVU could be pushing for a nice seeding in the Big 12 tournament.

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