MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It took Treysen Eaglestaff longer than he hoped to grow comfortable with his transition to West Virginia.
Now that Eaglestaff has shown more signs of doing exactly that, the senior swingman is hopeful to be a consistent contributor moving forward.
In the Mountaineers’ 72-61 victory against Colorado on Saturday, Eaglestaff was much more than that. He led all players with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting, grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists and turned it over once across 37 minutes.
“He was aggressive early and kept us afloat in the first half when we were navigating foul trouble,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “[He gets] 22 with six [rebounds], three assists and one turnover, and played really good defense in 37 minutes. That’s a high-level performance.”
It was the third highest-scoring output for Eaglestaff as a Mountaineer in what marked his fourth 20-plus point effort thus far this season. Three have come across the last eight games, starting with 23 in a victory over Little Rock that came directly after the low point of Eaglestaff’s senior campaign thus far.
In the previous contest against Wake Forest, Eaglestaff did not score or attempt a shot in 10 minutes during a 75-66 setback. Including his first three seasons at North Dakota, it was only the fifth time Eaglestaff had been held scoreless in college.
“I was telling [teammate Brenen Lorient] that when he was asking me when my confidence came,” Eaglestaff said. “There was a game where I didn’t take a shot and played 10 minutes, and a game I scored one point against a mid major team [season opener against Mount St. Mary’s]. It’s understanding how to play with these players and understanding what to do and just playing basketball at the end of the day. That’s something I didn’t do early in the season. I’m grateful the coaches have stayed by my side and helped me through that.”
Against the Buffaloes, Eaglestaff keyed a strong start by making each of his first five shots to help the Mountaineers lead 22-10. He missed his next four and went to halftime 5 for 9, but then made his first four field-goal attempts of the second half, including a three-pointer and basket off a drive that helped WVU respond strong to its only deficit of the day at 43-42.
CU head coach Tad Boyle felt his Eaglestaff developing an early rhythm offensively proved costly for the Buffaloes.
“Eaglestaff, who we know, goes right extremely well, goes right three times in a row in the first half and gets a basket,” Boyle said. “Part of our keys to beating West Virginia is we have to know personnel. What’s our plan on Honor Huff? We were trying to double team him and get the ball out of his hands and did a good job of that. But we didn’t do a very good job on Eaglestaff. Credit him. He’s a good player, but I don’t know how many baskets he had going left tonight. I don’t think many. That’s us not knowing personnel, but Eaglestaff is a great player and so is Honor Huff.”
Eaglestaff upped his season average to 9.9 points with Saturday’s showing. Through five Big 12 games, he has 57 points and has shot a plenty respectable 19 of 42 from the field, including 11 of 26 on triples. Eaglestaff has made multiple threes in every conference game.
“He’s being more aggressive and more comfortable,” Hodge said. “He probably had the biggest adjustment of any player coming into this from his previous situation. No knock on his previous situation, but there wasn’t a Honor Huff running around next to him or a Brenen Lorient. It takes a little while to think OK, I’m going to shoot this one, but should I have really passed it to Honor? Add in the defensive responsibilities as well.”
Eaglestaff has contributed as a rebounder as well and averages 4.5 boards, having snatched 24 in Big 12 play.
“Rebounding, never done that before until this year,” he said. “That wasn’t my goal. They’ve made me a more physical player. In practice, if I mess up, they’re going to let me know. That’s something I really appreciate. It doesn’t matter if I’m coming off a good game or not. They’re going to let you know if you mess up in practice. I’m learning from that and film. We have individual film sessions with each coach, offensive and defensive, and they really help me a lot with that.”
Hodge has praised Eaglestaff for his work ethic and attitude throughout much of the season, and the head coach has recently noted how much more reliable he’s been defensively.
“He bought in from Day 1. He bought into the defensive side and all the other little things besides scoring,” Hodge said. “That’s how you get better. You buy in and do what your coaches ask you to do and work really hard. He’s always taken accountability. You know how easy it is to be like, it’s Coach Hodge’s fault. That’s the easiest way and he never ran from it. He owned it and kept working. It’s been pleasurable to see. It helps us win, but aside from the winning, you’re happy for him. You really are.”