photo by: Benjamin Powell

WVU point guard Jasper Floyd drives to the basket Monday against Mississippi Valley State.

MORGANTOWN — First the good news: WVU guard Treysen Eaglestaff tied his season high with 23 points and Harlan Obioha recorded his first double-double of the season to lead the Mountaineers to an 86-51 blowout win on Monday against Mississippi Valley State inside the Hope Coliseum.

“I knew that I needed to be stronger with the ball, especially when I was closer to the paint,” said Eaglestaff, who scored 20 of his 23 in the second half. “In the second half, I just played basketball and enjoyed myself.”

WVU wrapped up its first nonconference season with a 9-4 record under Hodge. The challenge moving forward for the Mountaineers – in terms of making a push for any type of postseason play – will be eight of those wins came against mid-major schools currently ranked No. 273 or lower by the standards set by the NCAA’s NET rankings.

The Delta Devils (1-11), which dressed just eight players for the game, is 365th in the NET. There is no team ranked lower. Coppin State is 364th. Little Rock is 343rd. Lafayette is 334th. Mount St. Mary’s is 328th. Lehigh is 317th. Mercyhurst is 312th. Campbell is 273rd.

Those teams have combined for a 17-77 record so far.

Now for the bad news: There are no more easy wins remaining on West Virginia’s schedule.

“You just try and improve and try to get better and know that you’re kind of trying to win a marathon at a sprinter’s pace,” Hodge said. “You’ve got to be committed to just trying to get better and improving as individuals and as a team and as a coaching staff. The rest of those things, organically, take care of themselves.

“These guys are smart. They don’t have to be told that each game matters and what it means and the implications.”

The Mountaineers will enter Big 12 play on Jan. 2, with an 0-3 record against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents. The opponent on Jan. 2: No. 3 Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum, which will be about as Quad 1 as you can get.

“We’re definitely stepping into it thinking it’s going to be a dogfight,” Eaglestaff said. “We have a bunch of guys who are immensely bought in. We’ve put the work in. We’re in here 10-12 hours a day on our free time, just because we want to get better. That first Big 12 game, we’re all going to come to the fact that we have to punch first. We have to know it’s not all going to go our way, so we just have to stay together.”

WVU played without second-leading scorer forward Chance Moore, who felt ill during warm-ups.

“It wasn’t anything major or anything we feel concerned about moving forward,” Hodge said. “He just wasn’t feeling great and we just kind of made the decision as a staff that it probably wasn’t in his best interest to put him out there.”

On this night, WVU was just fine without him. For a third consecutive game, the Mountaineers connected on at least 12 3-pointers. Eaglestaff and Honor Huff each connected on four of them. Meanwhile, WVU held Mississippi State to just 34% (18 of 53) shooting overall.

“I thought our guys did a good job of honoring the game and respecting the game and played the game the right way,” Hodge said. “They played unselfish basketball. Really, outside of a little stretch from the 15-minute mark to the 10-minute mark of the first half, I thought we played a pretty solid game.”

Obioha scored 12 points and added 10 rebounds, while Huff added 13 and Amir Jenkins came off the bench and scored all 10 of his points in the first half.

“I just had to stay consistent with my approach,” Obioha said. “I didn’t change things based on what they were doing. I had to keep doing what I had done all week and put the same work I put in practice into the game. Just keeping it simple.”

For Eaglestaff, it was his third game of the season with at least 20 points. He was 1 of 4 shooting in the first half. After his coaches got on him at halftime to be more aggressive, Eaglestaff came out and shot 8 of 12.

“I thought he was aggressive and I thought he was decisive,” Hodge said. “I didn’t see a lot of indecision from him in the second half. He was shooting the right shots and got to the paint and finished with some physicality and some authority.

“He may have forced up one, but when you get 20 in a half, I guess you’ve just got to fire one up.”