West Virginia's Treysen Eaglestaff (52) drives past Houston's Milos Uzan (7) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

MORGANTOWN — The trip will cover around 2,000 miles – give or take – and when the WVU men’s basketball team arrives in Tempe, Ariz. for today’s 9 p.m. matchup against Arizona State, the weather will be about 30 degrees warmer than it is in Morgantown.

It’s still up in the air whether that’s good or bad news for the Mountaineers, who are still searching for their first victory of the season away from Hope Coliseum.

“What (WVU head coach Ross Hodge) left us with right now, before we kind of all brought it in, he was like, ‘Let’s take it on the road,’ ” WVU guard Honor Huff said following WVU’s 72-61 victory against Colorado. “We have to figure out ways to be as consistent as we are at home on the road. That’s obviously easier said than done.”

Inside the Hope Coliseum, WVU is a team that can put up 86 points on Kansas. On the road, WVU went 15 minutes with just five points scored against Houston.

WVU holds opponents to just 55.5 points per game when the game is in Morgantown. Away from home, the Mountaineers allow 78.2 points.

More importantly, WVU (12-6, 3-2 Big 12) hasn’t lost a home game, a perfect 12-0 record thus far. In a road or neutral-court game, the Mountaineers are 0-6.

“It can be difficult at times,” Huff continued. “Putting together stretches where we’re at our best (on the road) just has to happen. We get into too many stall-outs, where we’re not consistent enough. And when we get down, it’s obviously not the same as when we have the (home) crowd around us.

“It’s just little things like that. We have to be a little more sharp and stay a little more focused, especially on the road.”

Life on the road for WVU will be an extended trip this time and will offer up obstacles on both ends of the spectrum. Arizona State (10-8, 1-4), which has lost six of its last seven games, is at one end. On the other is a stop at No. 1 Arizona on Saturday, and the Wildcats are beating everyone by an average of 21.3 points per game.

Yet, Arizona State may be one of the tougher teams in the Big 12 to figure out. The Sun Devils shoot a respectable 45% as a team, yet they are also 15th in the Big 12 in allowing opponents to shoot 46% from the field. Arizona State scores 80 points per game and also allows 80 points per game.

The Sun Devils gave top-ranked Arizona a tough game and hung in there with Gonzaga and beat Oklahoma, but also allowed more than 100 points in losses against Houston and BYU.

“There’s got to be more resistance, there’s got to be more fight,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said after Sunday’s 103-73 loss against Houston. “There’s got to be more toughness, there’s got to be just better effort on that end of the floor. We’re not rotating over, we’re not helping each other, our transition defense was bad.

“We’re not going to get any better and win games if we keep letting teams score the way they’ve been scoring on us.”

It’s an interesting equation the Mountaineers walk into in that Arizona State struggles to defend, but so have the Mountaineers when they’re on the road.

The game could turn into a track meet, or is this the time WVU is able to carry its type of game away from Morgantown and impose their will on the road?

“We’ve done what, in my opinion, you’re supposed to do,” Hodge said. “We’ve got one of the best home-court advantages in the country. If you look at what’s been going on around the league, it’s been tough sledding on the road. We’ve got two monster challenges in a row.”