Because of what Darian DeVries accomplished with West Virginia in his one and only year, it heightened expectations to some degree, leading people to believe that achieving that type of success in year one is the bar.

The reality is, if you don’t have a group that has a clear identity, it’s going to make life extremely difficult. This team prides itself on its defensive play, but against high majors, they’ve allowed teams to shoot 38%, 46%, 45%, and 51%. I bet you can guess which one the Pitt game is, and what we’ve learned since the Backyard Brawl is that the Panthers aren’t very good, even dropping a buy game to Quinnipiac.

If you’re not elite or, at the very least, really good at the one thing you’re supposed to be good at, well, you better make up for it somewhere else. And to this point, West Virginia has found zero answers. Aside from Honor Huff, they don’t shoot the three-ball well as a team, they don’t dominate the interior, and they aren’t a good free-throw shooting team.

When the opposition solves the Mountaineers’ plan on defense, it puts a ton of pressure on Honor Huff offensively to keep this team in a game. No offense to Huff because he’s elite at what he does, but you can’t have a player who is strictly a three-point specialist as your one and only reliable offensive threat. You need a presence in the paint, someone to put pressure on the rim, or both.

Chance Moore has been able to do the latter, but the floor spacing for him hasn’t been ideal. He’s had to just fight his way to the cup because the defense doesn’t respect any of the Mountaineers’ shooters not named Huff.

The reality is, this team does not have the pieces to replicate what happened a year ago. Javon Small was able to create his own shot, scoring from any spot on the floor. Honor Huff, while a great shooter, doesn’t have the same skillset or ability as Small, and quite honestly, that’s what this team needs to be able to overcome its offensive shortcomings.

There is still plenty of time for this group to figure things out, but as I’ve stated on numerous other occasions, everyone else is getting better throughout the season, too.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI

Ross Hodge Discusses the Turnovers and the Defensive Lapses Against Wake Forest

Stock Up, Stock Down: Rebounding, Eaglestaff, NCAA Resume + More

Rapid Takeaways Following West Virginia’s Loss to Wake Forest

WVU Secures Impact Pass Rusher in JUCO Standout Darius Wiley

West Virginia Legacy Chris Henry Jr. Chooses College Destination

West Virginia dropped to 7-3 on the season following a 75-66 loss to Wake Forest in Charleston.

Here are a few of my initial thoughts from this one.

Sloppy first half offense

I don’t know what’s worse, the 12 turnovers or the 4/18 mark from three-point range, with most of those attempts not coming off a paint touch. Brenen Lorient had four turnovers himself, one of which was a questionable travel call, but there were way too many live-ball turnovers, leading to points the other way.

Good response, bad response

After falling behind 10, the Mountaineers turned things around quickly, largely due to Honor Huff heating up for a few possessions. During that stretch where they fell behind, the ball-handling was sloppy, shot selection wasn’t the greatest, and Wake Forest just out-physicaled them on the interior. Weathering that storm and tying the game up at the half was big. The punch Wake threw in the second half? Yeah, WVU must have been weak on the ropes because they had no answer.

Still no offensive identity

Aside from Honor Huff jacking up a bunch of threes every game, I’ve yet to see an identity pop up for this team offensively. What do they do extremely well? I haven’t seen anything above average play through the first ten games of the season. They haven’t shot it well or attacked the paint consistently to dominate the interior either. Something has to emerge before conference play, or it’s going to be a big uphill battle.

Allergic to passing the ball inside

I understand Wake does a pretty good job of closing out the paint, but this is something that’s been a bit of a problem all year for WVU when not playing the low major scrubs (no offense to those programs). Swinging the ball around the perimeter isn’t going to open anything up. You have a 7-footer (Harlan Obioha) and an athletic freak (Brenen Lorient) down there for a reason — pound the ball inside. If they take away the passing lanes, they need to get more downhill, and Chance Moore can’t be the only one capable.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI

WVU Secures Impact Pass Rusher in JUCO Standout Darius Wiley

West Virginia Legacy Chris Henry Jr. Chooses College Destination

Four Mountaineers Earn All-Big 12 Honorable Mention Recognition

West Virginia Adds High-Impact Linebacker Trey McGlothlin to 2026 Class

WVU Legacy Chris Henry Jr. Remains Unsigned, Weighing All Options