Over the past few weeks, West Virginia basketball has quietly undergone a noticeable shift - and at the center of it is Honor Huff. The Mountaineers’ leading scorer has gone from a high-level off-ball weapon to the engine of the offense, and the results are starting to speak for themselves.
At the start of the season, Huff was primarily used as a movement shooter - sprinting off pindowns, flaring off screens, and hunting catch-and-shoot opportunities. He was a sniper in motion, someone you had to track every second he was on the floor.
But lately, that role has expanded. Over the last seven games, Huff has taken on a much heavier on-ball workload, and not just in spurts - he’s running the show in the halfcourt.
This wasn’t just a tactical tweak for variety’s sake. It’s been a response to two things: Huff’s underrated playmaking chops and the struggles of the point guard tandem of Jasper Floyd and Amir Jenkins.
With the Mountaineers needing more creation and control at the point of attack, Huff has stepped into that void - and he’s doing more than just surviving. He’s thriving.
Let’s start with the basics. In that seven-game stretch, Huff is averaging 3.1 assists against just 1.4 turnovers per game.
That’s a rock-solid assist-to-turnover ratio north of 2-to-1, a benchmark that coaches love to see from their lead guards. And if you zoom in on the last three games, the numbers jump off the page: 5.0 assists per game with only three total turnovers.
That’s a 5-to-1 ratio - elite territory.
What’s making this work is Huff’s gravity as a scorer. Defenders are forced to play him tight, especially in ball screens, because of his lightning-quick release and deep range.
That attention opens up the floor, and Huff has shown a real feel for reading defenses and making the right pass - whether it’s hitting the roll man, skipping to the weak side, or finding cutters in stride. He’s not just a scorer who can pass; he’s become a legitimate playmaker.
And the advanced numbers back it up. According to hoop-explorer, against top-100 opponents this season, Huff ranks in the 82nd percentile nationally as a drive-and-kick passer (0.98 points per possession).
He’s in the 79th percentile when passing to cutters (1.03 PPP) and 66th percentile when feeding the big out of pick-and-roll. If you isolate that to Big 12 play, his drive-and-kick efficiency actually improves - 1.01 PPP, good for the 91st percentile - despite having a supporting cast that isn’t exactly lights-out from deep.
To put that in perspective, Jasper Floyd - who’s had the lion’s share of point guard minutes earlier in the season - ranks in the 22nd, 31st, and 58th percentiles in those same categories in conference play. That’s a steep drop-off.
Interestingly, Amir Jenkins shows some real promise, ranking in at least the 92nd percentile across all three areas. The catch?
His volume is low, and the scoring hasn’t quite come along yet. But there’s upside there, no doubt.
Back to Huff - what’s really impressive is how well he’s taking care of the ball despite the increased usage. In Big 12 games, he’s posting a turnover rate of just 12.8 percent, which puts him in the 78th percentile among ball-dominant guards. That’s efficiency you can build around.
And when Huff isn’t passing, he’s still doing plenty of damage as a self-creator. In conference play, only 50 percent of his three-point makes are assisted - which ranks in the top 6 percent nationally.
That means half of his threes are coming off the bounce, not off the catch. He’s doing it himself.
It’s the same story inside the arc: just 17 percent of his mid-range shots are assisted, and every single shot he’s taken at the rim has been self-created. That’s not easy to do, especially against Big 12 defenses.
So yes, Huff has proven he can be a legitimate lead guard. But that doesn’t mean the Mountaineers should abandon what made him special in the first place. His movement shooting is still a weapon - maybe the best one in WVU’s arsenal - and finding the right balance between letting him cook on-ball and freeing him up off screens will be key down the stretch.
On the season, Huff is sporting a 113.3 offensive rating on 22 percent usage, according to KenPom, and he leads the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game. He’s also top-5 nationally in made threes - a testament to both his volume and his efficiency.
Bottom line: Honor Huff isn’t just West Virginia’s best scorer. He’s become their most important offensive player, period. And if he keeps playing at this level - as both a shot-maker and a facilitator - the Mountaineers might just have a blueprint for offensive consistency in Big 12 play.