West Virginia
West Virginia wills its way past Kansas State, 59-54 – WV MetroNews
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One mark of good teams is finding ways to win when being far from your best.
Perhaps that explains why first-year West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge found so much satisfaction in the Mountaineers’ 59-54 victory against Kansas State on Tuesday night, one in which the home team overcame a lengthy scoring drought in each half to improve to 13-0 at Hope Coliseum.
“This was probably my favorite win,” Hodge said. “It would’ve been easy to say it wasn’t our night, we didn’t have it and none of us could make a shot. To our guys’ credit, they found a way, kept believing and there was no panic.”
The Mountaineers (14-7, 5-3) failed to score for nearly 6 minutes to start the game and suffered through a drought of more than 7 minutes in the late stages.
The latter drought came after Brenen Lorient scored with 10:19 remaining to leave WVU with a 45-41 lead.
WVU then missed its next seven shots and turned it over three times, before getting a follow-up basket from Treysen Eaglestaff with 3:17 to play to cut what been a 49-45 Wildcat advantage in half.
Another second chance on WVU’s next possession led to Eaglestaff’s go-ahead three off the wing with 2:08 remaining.
“You’re kind of seeing Trey’s evolution as a player,” Hodge said. “He was a high level scorer and now he’s finding ways to impact winning when maybe he’s not having his best shooting night.”
After Chance Moore split two free throws, the Mountaineers came up with a key stop and got a triple from Honor Huff to lead by five, though Kansas State (10-11, 1-7) immediately countered with a P.J. Haggerty trey to trail 54-52 with 1 minute left.
Then came the most pivotal sequence of the night, with Eaglestaff following up his miss with a bucket on a play in which he was also fouled. He converted the free throw for a conventional three-point play to give WVU a five-point advantage with 43 seconds remaining.
“They out-toughed us down the stretch,” Wildcats’ head coach Jerome Tang said.
Haggerty answered with a bucket to make it a three-point margin, and the Wildcats got the ball back after Huff missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Haggerty’s off-balance triple in an effort to tie was well off the mark.
Huff then sealed the verdict by making two free throws with 8 seconds left for the final margin.
Not until Moore got free on a fast break for a dunk 5:49 into the game did WVU score, at which point the Wildcats led, 7-2.
“It was a slow start for both teams,” Huff said. “We were just giving them the ball. Couldn’t get anything going. We were missing shots. I got pulled out early. It was about maintaining focus as a group.”
K-State’s largest advantage was 13-5 after a David Castillo triple, one that Tang felt could and perhaps should have been a good bit more.
“Each guy was trying to make their own play. I felt if we’d have kept sharing it like we did to start, instead of being up eight, we maybe could’ve been up 14,” Tang said.
Sure enough, after WVU managed five points over its first 17 possessions, the Mountaineers came to life offensively. Huff led the charge by making four treys over a stretch of 5:01, the last of which allowed WVU to lead by eight.
“We had one stretch where Huff made four threes without a dribble and the scouting report was to make him dribble,” Tang said. “We can’t have those kind of errors. We’re not good enough to overcome those.”
Eaglestaff accounted for the next bucket to make it a 10-point game, though the Wildcats were back to within six at halftime despite Haggerty, the Big 12’s top scorer, being held scoreless on 0 for 7 shooting over the first 20 minutes.
“You feel good about it, but you’re a little nervous about it, because you’re only up six,” Hodge said. “You’ve done a really good job on him, but you know he’s a great player you can’t hold down for two halves.”
WVU gained its second 10-point lead at 34-24 when Lorient scored in the paint 2:45 into the second half, but the Wildcats got treys on successive possessions from Haggerty and Nate Johnson to draw back to within four.
The Wildcats’ first lead of the second half came at 47-45 on Johnson’s fast break layup and neither team scored for the next 4-plus minutes.
Huff scored a game-high 17 points to go with eight rebounds, while Eaglestaff scored 12 and led all players with nine boards.
Lorient overcame two fouls in the first 6:29 to finish with 10 points and six rebounds.
“His response was incredible,” Hodge said. “Was proud of him for not letting his early foul trouble derail his entire game.”
Haggerty scored 16 points on 6-for-19 shooting and was limited to two free-throw attempts. He entered averaging 23.4 points on better than 48 percent shooting.
“The coaches came in with a really good game plan,” said WVU guard Jasper Floyd, who was on Haggerty for much of the matchup. “They showed us his strengths. As a group, we did a great job not allowing him to play to his strengths.”
Castillo added 15 points and Johnson contributed 13 in defeat.
Taj Manning’s nine rebounds led KSU, but the Mountaineers won the board battle 38-31 and had 15 second-chance points to KSU’s four.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history, compiled by the West Virginia Humanities Council from its online encyclopedia, e-WV.
April 19, 1896: Writer Melville Davisson Post was born in Harrison County. His best-known works are the Randolph Mason series, published in three volumes, and the more successful collection Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries.
April 19, 1902: Author Jean Lee Latham was born in Buckhannon. She wrote a number of children’s books, including Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which won the 1956 Newbery Award.
April 20, 1823: Gen. Jesse Lee Reno was born in Wheeling. He graduated from West Point in 1846 with another cadet from western Virginia, Thomas J. Jackson, later known as “Stonewall.” Reno was the highest-ranking officer from present West Virginia killed in the Civil War.
April 20, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that in 60 days, West Virginia would become a state. The occasion was marked 100 years later during the state’s Centennial celebration with a special ceremonial session of the West Virginia Legislature on April 20, 1963, in Wheeling.
April 20, 1909: Fiddler Melvin Wine was born near Burnsville in Braxton County. A favorite of old-time music enthusiasts nationally, he was chosen as a National Heritage Fellow in 1991 by the National Endowment for the Arts — the highest recognition given to a folk artist in the United States.
April 20, 1939: Poet Irene McKinney was born in Belington, Barbour County. Gov. Gaston Caperton appointed her state poet laureate in 1993, and she served in that capacity until her death in 2012.
April 21, 1908: Musician Phoeba Cottrell Parsons was born in Calhoun County. Parsons’ traditional clawhammer banjo style, unaccompanied ballad singing, riddles and storytelling have influenced countless younger musicians.
April 21, 1936: President Franklin Roosevelt established the Jefferson National Forest. The West Virginia portion of the forest includes about 19,000 acres in Monroe County.
April 22, 1908: Marshall “Little Sleepy” Glenn was born in Elkins. Glenn coached basketball at West Virginia University from 1934 to 1938 and football from 1937 to 1940. He was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
April 22, 1948: Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician Larry Groce was born in Dallas, Texas. He is best known as the longtime host and artistic director of the Mountain Stage radio program.
April 22, 2003: Activist Judy Bonds, a Raleigh County native, received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her fight against mountaintop removal mining. Her efforts inspired thousands and turned a local West Virginia issue into a national cause.
April 23, 1857: Andrew S. Rowan was born in Gap Mills, Monroe County. Rowan, a military officer, was chosen as the messenger when President William McKinley wanted to send a message to Cuban Gen. Calixto Garcia during the Spanish-American War. The 1899 pamphlet A Message to Garcia made the incident famous.
April 24, 1865: McNeill’s Rangers surrendered to Union troops at New Creek — now Keyser. The Confederate guerrilla force probably never numbered more than 100 men at any time but managed to inflict regular damage on Union operations.
April 25, 1863: In what became known as the Jones-Imboden Raid, about 1,500 Confederate soldiers under Gen. William “Grumble” Jones advanced through Greenland Gap, a deep pass through New Creek Mountain in present Grant County. The Confederates encountered 87 Union soldiers who held off several assaults before finally surrendering.
April 25, 1923: Union leader Arnold Ray Miller was born at Leewood on Cabin Creek in Kanawha County. In December 1972, he defeated Tony Boyle to become president of the United Mine Workers and served until 1979.
e-WV is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information, contact the council at 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301, call 304-346-8500 or visit wvencyclopedia.org.
During the Gold-Blue spring game on Saturday, the West Virginia coaching staff named wide receiver Cyrus Traught the recipient of the 2026 Tommy Nikolich Award.
The award, which is always given out at the end of spring ball, recognizes a walk-on team member who has distinguished himself through his attitude and work ethic. The award is presented in memory of Tommy Nickolich, a former WVU player (1980-82) who passed away from cancer in 1983.
Traugh is a Parkersburg native and graduate of Parkersburg South High School. He began his career at Youngstown State before transferring back home to play for the Mountaineers last season. In his final year with the Penguins, he logged 36 receptions, 409 yards, and a team-leading five touchdowns, two of which came against Pitt.
During the 2025 campaign with the Mountaineers, he saw action against Robert Morris and Kansas, playing 10 snaps against the Jayhawks, but did not record any stats.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez has mentioned him twice this spring as someone who has been doing some good things and making progress. Wide receivers coach Ryan Garrett also showed him some love during his press conference last week.
The Mountaineers completely revamped the wide receiver room this offseason, upping the level of talent at both inside and outside receiver spots, but perhaps Traugh can work his way into the mix if he puts together a strong summer and fall camp. If he’s not a regular in the rotation, he’ll serve as a quality depth piece who can play special teams.
Past Nickolich Award winners:
2025: Clay Ash, RB
2024: Avery Wilcox, S
2023: C.J. Cole, WR
2022: Nick Malone, OL
2021: Graeson Malashevich, WR/H
2020: Osman Kamara, S
2019: Jake Abbott, LB
2018: Evan Staley, K
2017: Nick Meadows, LS
2016: Jon Lewis, DL
2015: Justin Arndt, LB
2014: Michael Calicchio, OL
2013: Connor Arlia, WR
2012: Tyler Anderson, DE
2011: Ryan Nehlen, WR
2010: Matt Lindamood, FB
2009: Josh Taylor, DL
2008: Adam Hughes, LS
2007: Andy Emery, LB
2006: Tim Lindsey, LS
2005: George Shehl, H/DB
2004: Jeff Noechel, LB
2003: John Pennington, WR
2002: Moe Fofana, RB
2001: Jeremy Knapp, TE
2000: Ben Collins, LB
1999: Bryan Lorenz, LB
1998: Mark Corman, TE
1997: David Lightcap, DB
1996: Matt Ceresa, OL
1995: Rob Keys, DB
1994: Randy Fulmore, DB
1993: Matt McCulty, WR
1992: Brett Parise, WR, Ray Wilcox, LB
1991: Keith Taparausky, RB
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