MORGANTOWN — Maybe it was somewhat fitting it was alumni weekend, with some of the all-time greats of WVU men’s basketball history on hand Saturday for the Mountaineers’ 72-61 victory against Colorado inside the Hope Coliseum.
The names need no introduction in Morgantown, guys like Damian Owens, Lowes Moore and Warren Baker, not to mention key members of the 2010 Final Four team in Truck Bryant, John Flowers and Kevin Jones.
They were all witnesses and got just a small taste of Honor Huff’s ability, which will bring us to a very important question in just a moment.
First, Treysen Eaglestaff was the hero and deserves a ton of credit. His 22 points and six rebounds won the game. He was the star of the night.
But, when the game got a little interesting with just under five minutes remaining, WVU head coach Ross Hodge put the ball into Huff’s hands for good reason.
And, boy, did Huff ever deliver.
The shot came from about 27 feet, but does that really matter anymore? He’s electrified crowds all season with 30-plus footers. There was one earlier this season that might have been closer to 40 feet. They don’t all go in, but when they do, Huff’s reaction is always like he expected it to do just that.
This particular one came a few steps in front of Hodge near the WVU bench. Colorado’s talented freshman Isaiah Johnson was all over Huff, but it didn’t matter. The 5-foot-9 guard from Brooklyn, N.Y. took a step back and banked it in – that’s no lie – to give WVU a 65-56 lead with 4:25 left and the game was over.
“Honor has the ability to use his speed to create space, and obviously can shoot it with range,” Hodge said after the game. “He didn’t call bank. I asked. He did not.”
Huff’s final stat line: 14 points on 4 of 9 shooting. It wasn’t great, wasn’t Huff’s best stuff, but it helped deliver a crucial win that keeps WVU – at the very least – creeping into the conversation for a possible bid to the NCAA tournament.
He’s up to 68 3-pointers on the season, which keeps him in contention among the nation’s and Big 12 leaders. Huff is certainly on pace to surpass Frank Young’s school record of 117 in one season, which leads us to the big question.
Will Huff one day be celebrated at WVU as one of the school’s all-time greats, just like the ones who were honored at halftime?
To be sure, we could ask this same question of last season’s star in Javon Small. Both Small and Huff share a similar story in that neither were heavily recruited coming out of high school. They had to prove themselves at smaller schools before anyone at the Power Conference level took notice.
Small had one of the best years ever by a WVU point guard last season. It read 18.6 points and 5.6 assists per game. For good measure, Small added 4.1 rebounds per game. He had 14 games with at least 20 points.
The problem was Small played just 32 games in a WVU uniform, which is roughly going to be the same number of games Huff will play for the Mountaineers, give or take.
They will both have arrived and departed in a blink of an eye, as it were.
Yes, that is the current state of affairs in college athletics with the transfer portal. Guys come and go before you ever really get an opportunity to know them. It happens everywhere.
Should that matter? If Huff continues to bank in 27-footers and swishing 33-footers to the tune of setting a school record and maybe leading the country in 3-pointers, should he not be mentioned as one of the all-time greats at WVU?
Now, we’re not exactly talking about putting Huff or Small in the same conversation with Da’Sean Butler. We’re not comparing their impact at WVU to that of Jevon Carter’s. We’re not requesting a statue of them to be built next to Jerry West’s.
But, when you talk about the best guards to ever wear a WVU uniform – say, put together a top 10 or 15 list – should Huff and Small be excluded from inclusion just because they were only here for one season?
If you’re talking about WVU’s all-time best 3-point shooters, sure, you’d mention Young and Alex Ruoff. Maybe you throw out Patrick Beilein or Chris Leonard. Would you mention Huff?
If you don’t, fine, no judgement here. Just realize that college athletics are never going back to what we had 15 years ago. Over the course of the next few decades, if you automatically eliminate guys who only play here for a year, or two, it’s very possible you may never see another all-timer again at WVU.
