The West Virginia Mountaineers earned their first win of the season away from home on Wednesday night as they knocked off Arizona State 75-63 at Desert Financial Stadium in Tempe.
It was a game that saw the Mountaineers get off to quite a slow start, as they trailed the Sun Devils by 13 points with eight minutes to play in the first half after starting making just six of their first 20 field goal attempts. But from there, the Mountaineers shot over 63 percent the rest of the way and rode a 23-point effort from Treysen Eaglestaff and a 15-point effort from Brenen Lorient to victory.
For the Mountaineers (13-6, 4-2), it was a crucial resume-building win that helped forge a bit of a clearer path to a potential postseason bid – or, at least started that path. But for the Sun Devils (10-9, 1-5), it's a heartbreaking loss, moving them to 1-7 in their last eight outings after a 9-2 start to the season. And it was clear after the game on Wednesday that the resilience of the Mountaineers and the outcome of the game might have broke something inside Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley.
“We failed, I’m failing,” Hurley said. "I can’t get through to the team, I don’t know what else I can say. It's hard to see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel."
Hurley, who has been with the program for 11 seasons and is in the final year of his current contract, has seen success with the program, earning three NCAA tournament appearances and a 178-160 overall record. But the Sun Devils have managed to finish the year with a winning record just once since the 2019-2020 season, and on Wednesday, West Virginia may have put the final nail in the coffin of his tenure with the program.