Honor Huff might not always have the hot hand for the West Virginia Mountaineers – but when he does, it can be nearly impossible to stop the old-gold-and-blue.
That was the case on Thursday night for the Mountaineers, as they continued a series of abysmal starts with an anemic first half in an eventual 59-54 win against the Cincinnati Bearcats, scoring just 20 points in the first half.
And for the first few minutes of the second half, it seemed it would be more of the same, as WVU went just 2-of-9 shooting from the field in the first 5:02 of the second half and trailed by as many as 14 points. And that's when Honor Huff came to life.
Huff made his first bucket of the night with just 14:40 to play in the game, and proceeded to score the next 14 points for his team to bring the Mountaineers storming back from a double-digit deficit. His rally took the Mountaineers on a 14-3 run, and then Treysen Eaglestaff would nail shot from behind-the-arc to push the Mountaineers out front 42-40.
"Honor's shot-making in the second half to get us going is what everyone will pay attention to," head coach Ross Hodge said after the game.
Huff would only score two more points the rest of the way, but would also add three more assists down the stretch, and while the Mountaineers would trade the lead with the Bearcats once more, they never fell behind by more than one point after Huff's rally. Huff would finish with 16 points and six assists on the night, and WVU secured their biggest comeback victory since January 2022.
The big effort comes for Huff after a disappointing effort in a loss to Baylor last week, where he scored just five points. Hodge said he was pleased with how Huff bounced back from the tough game against the Bears with massive performance.
"It shows Honor's maturation. I thought he pressed a bit in that Baylor game, but tonight, i thought he only took one difficult shot," Hodge said.