West Virginia is finding its stride at just the right time - and doing it with a mix of grit, evolving roles, and timely shooting. Thursday night’s 59-54 win over Cincinnati wasn’t always pretty, but it was the kind of performance that can define a team’s late-season identity. And for the Mountaineers, it was a night where two key players - Honor Huff and DJ Thomas - stepped up and showed exactly why this team is creeping into bubble talk as the postseason nears.
Let’s start with Huff, who’s been more than just a scorer lately. The shooting guard has been sliding into a hybrid point guard role, and it’s paying off.
Against the Bearcats, he didn’t just light it up - he orchestrated. Huff finished with six assists, a season high and the third-best mark of his career, and three of those came in the game’s final eight minutes, when every possession mattered.
His scoring punch came when WVU needed it most. Trailing by double digits in the second half, Huff delivered a personal highlight reel: three 3-pointers and 14 points in just over three minutes.
Suddenly, what had been a 14-point hole was a one-point game. That stretch didn’t just swing momentum - it flipped the narrative.
Huff’s burst brought West Virginia back to life, and from there, he settled back into a facilitator’s rhythm to help close things out.
“He’s been seeing a lot of attention with teams putting two on the ball a lot against him,” head coach Ross Hodge said. “But part of his growth and maturation through this process is trusting his teammates and trusting the game will open up. I thought he did a tremendous job of that.”
That trust showed up in his connection with DJ Thomas, who picked a perfect time to rediscover his shooting touch. Thomas hadn’t hit a 3-pointer since mid-January and was 0-for-2 against Cincinnati before finally knocking one down with just over four minutes to go - a shot that gave WVU the lead for good. Then, with 90 seconds left, he drilled another three off a Huff assist to stretch the lead to four and put the Bearcats on their heels.
Thomas, a freshman, logged 23 minutes - his most in a Big 12 game - and played the final 7:15, a sign of growing trust from the coaching staff. His ability to space the floor was critical, especially as Cincinnati ramped up its pressure on Huff.
“I liked DJ’s ability to space the floor a little bit more because they were putting two on Honor,” Hodge said. “He puts in a ton of work.
All these guys do, but he’s probably one of the highest character, most mature freshmen I’ve been around - him and Amir [Jenkins] both. I’m happy for us but really happy for him.”
It’s been a season of adjustments for West Virginia, who now sit at 15-8 overall and 6-4 in Big 12 play. They’ve dealt with inconsistent starts, tough losses, and lineup shuffles, but Thursday night showed a team that’s learning how to win in different ways. Huff’s evolution into a playmaker and Thomas’ emergence as a floor-spacer might not have been part of the original blueprint, but they’re the kind of late-season developments that can push a team from the fringe to the dance.
And if this group keeps finding answers like they did in Cincinnati, don’t be surprised if the Mountaineers make a little noise in March.