Exclusive: WVU Basketball Targeted Proven Winners in Transfer Portal

PITTSBURGH — New WVU basketball coach Ross Hodge had a clear goal in mind when he went about rebuilding the Mountaineers’ roster this spring. He wanted winners.

“Experience matters at this time period, so one thing we’ve tried to do is add guys to our roster who have won and been part of winning, even if it wasn’t winning at West Virginia,” Hodge told WVSN’s Mike Asti during a WVU Coaches Caravan event in Pittsburgh Friday evening. “We definitely wanted to add people who have won. Now we have to teach them how we want to win together, but you don’t have to teach them how to win.”

Of the eight transfer players Hodge has committed to West Virginia, six of them played in either the NCAA Tournament or NIT Tournament last season. Harlan Obioha (UNC Wilmington) and Jackson Fields (Troy) both played in the NCAA tournament last season. Chance Moore (St. Bonaventure), Honor Huff (Chattanooga), Brenen Lorient (North Texas) and Jasper Floyd (North Texas) were all in the NIT.

Lorient and Floyd were on Hodge’s UNT team that advanced to the NIT Semifinals and Huff won the NIT championship with Chattanooga. Lorient also experienced a Final Four run with FAU in 2023. Floyd also won a national championship when he was in junior college prior to joining UNT. Morris Ugusuk also got postseason experience when South Carolina made the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The glaring omission from the list is consensus top-100 transfer Treysen Eaglestaff, the gem of WVU’s portal class. Despite his individual success, Eaglestaff has no postseason experience as North Dakota was 43-55 during his three seasons there. While he may be the one transfer lacking proven team success, Hodge said he’s going to be a key member of WVU’s roster.

Courtesy of North Texas Athletics

“He’s shot very well with catch-and-shoot opportunities, which you hope with better players around him, that’s going to open those opportunities for him instead of always having to generate offense himself,” Hodge said. “It may not always be with scoring per se, but I think there are a lot of different ways he can impact games that can impact winning.”

Hodge isn’t just building for the upcoming season, he has an eye towards the future as well. He believes the two high school recruits he has right now, DJ Thomas and Jayden Forsythe, may not only be able to come in and make an immediate impact for WVU but also be the types to stay with the Mountaineers long-term.

“When you’re able to recruit a kid like Jayden Forsythe and DJ Thomas who are high-level high school players with college-ready bodies, you hope that they can play some as young players,” Hodge said. “The goal is to hold onto them. That’s the nature of the business that we’re in.

“Once you do get people in the fold and into Mountaineer athletics, they can feel that it is a special place. I don’t think it’s an easy place to leave.”

For a related story, where WVU basketball ranks after the transfer portal closed.