WVU basketball bounced back strongly from their loss last weekend to Wake Forest on Tuesday night as they returned home to the Hope Coliseum in Morgantown for a showdown with Little Rock. The Mountaineers had no issues with the Trojans, cruising to a 90-58 victory over their visitor while showing some important signs of finding solutions to issues that have plagued the team in recent weeks. Here are our takeaways from WVU's eighth win of the season.
A Much-Needed Second Scorer Unlocked As Three-Point Woes Find Solution
Treysen Eaglestaff entered this season as a highly-touted transfer portal addition due to his explosive scoring abilities, and he has had some trouble unlocking that consistently for the Mountaineers so far through non-conference play. His game looked different on Tuesday night, as he scored a season-high 23 points. And unlike his first 20-point game of the season, he was able to get hot from behind-the-arc in this win, converting 5-of-10 from three-point range.
"I thought he got good looks, thought he was aggressive, and thought he was the recipient of some crisp passing and really good ball movement," head coach Ross Hodge said of Eaglestaff after the game. "I thought he was ready to shoot, and we've been on him about that...I thought he was ready. It's only a matter of time"
The Mountaineers have been struggling to find a second consistent scorer in addition to Honor Huff, and that is supposed to be Eaglestaff's role on the roster. The Mountaineers need him to play like he did on Tuesday to be successful, particularly once they hit Big 12 play. Speaking of Huff, he was as hot as ever against Little Rock, going 8-of-11 from three-point range, matching his season-high and coming within one three-pointer of the single-game WVU record.
This solved another issue plaguing WVU as of late, as they've been unable to find their groove from behind-the-arc lately. But they shot 50 percent from deep-range on Tuesday, going 15-of-30 – it was their three-pointers in a game since December 10, 2024, and the first time WVU has has made 15 three-pointers and shot above 50 percent from field since November 18, 2018.
Unselfish Basketball Wins The Day
The Mountaineers demonstrated a blueprint to offensive success for this team against Little Rock, and it relies on being unselfish with the ball offensively.
We saw some of this in the team's dominant wins earlier in the season, but Hodge's system seems to thrive best when players are willing to make the extra pass, and the ball is being worked into the post and back out to open perimeter shooters. This was the case again for WVU against Little Rock, as they notched 22 assists on their 33 converted field goals on Tuesday – good for 66 percent of their made shots.
"That was a big one, I thought our willingness to make the simple play and pass the ball to next man...I thought there was a really good intentionality among our group to move the ball, pass the ball," Hodge said.
Rebounding Has Turned From Weakness To Strength
At the beginning of the season, rebounding was a concern for the Mountaineers, and a clear one at that. They were even getting out-rebounded by low-major opponents.
You may have noticed in recent weeks that there has been a reversal in that trend, and it's been looking a lot like rebounding will end up being a strength of this team in the long run. That continued to be the case against the Trojans, and the Mountaineers won the rebounding battle 42-29 and tallied 15 offensive boards.
The team seems to have a versatility on the boards as well, as multiple different players have been stepping up with huge rebounding games. Of note, four different WVU players had six-or-more rebounds on Tuesday, with Jackson Fields. Brenen Lorient, and Harlan Obioha registering seven each, and Chance Moore earning six. That's the type of work crashing the boards you like to see.