Ross Hodge Gives Insight to Limited Treysen Eaglestaff Minutes

Senior guard Treysen Eaglestaff was touted as a scoring savant out of North Dakota, where he averaged just under 19 points per game last season. While he has shown flashes this season, his scoring has dropped to just 8.2 points per game.

Despite the scoring struggles, head coach Ross Hodge has repeatedly highlighted Eaglestaff’s defensive effort, a staple of Hodge’s brand of basketball.

“He really bought into it. And that’s where I felt like he was impacting winning regardless of maybe his shots going in, in or out, and that’s kinda where we put our trust and our hope in is on the defensive end of the floor,” Hodge said in a press conference on Thursday.

Eaglestaff has been benched for a lack defensive effort, initially with just nine minutes played against Wake Forest on Dec. 6. It then happened again on Saturday against Ohio State when he played just four minutes in the second half in an 89-88 double overtime loss.

WVU HC Ross Hodge confirmed to me that Tyresen Eaglestaff's struggles on the defensive end against Ohio State again impacted his minutes. Hodge had said earlier in the season that Eaglestaff's effort on defense was why he was still helping winning despite his shots not falling,…

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) December 18, 2025

“And so, if he’s executing defensively, that’s always gonna allow him or anybody, it’s not just him, you know, but kind of in the case of Saturday night, he didn’t execute early in the second half and it cost us,” Hodge said.

It was also a slow night on offense for Eaglestaff, as he went just 1-9 from the floor with three points in 23 minutes played. While addressing Eaglestaff’s play, Hodge was clear that falling short on defense paired with a lack of offensive production is grounds to take anyone out of the game.

“And then you couple that in with like, okay, maybe you’re not having the most productive offensive night and you’re not executing on that end of the floor. Well then it’s, then you just, and it’s not just him, but anybody that isn’t executing defensively or igniting you offensively, then you just, you don’t get to be in the game at that moment,” Hodge said.

Hodge has high praise for Eaglestaff and his mindset, even while enduring struggles this season.

“The thing I like about him, and, and again, I appreciate about him, like I always said, it’s not like he’s meeting it with resistance or blame or he doesn’t have the heart or the attitude that he’s getting screwed or I’m picking on him,” Hodge said. “He has the heart and like he knows he needs to be better and he’s working really hard at it to be better. And he’s not alone in those areas, you know, but he knows we need him to be better and he knows that.”

WVU basketball will take the court again at 7 p.m. Dec. 22 when it hosts Mississippi Valley State at the Hope Coliseum.

Find more coverage of WVU basketball and Treysen Eaglestaff at WV Sports Now.