West Virginia’s Treysen Eaglestaff (52) puts up a 3-pointer during Tuesday’s game against Cincinnati in Morgantown. (Photo by David Pennock)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Treysen Eaglestaff was caught in no-man’s land, so too maybe were his West Virginia teammates on Tuesday night.

“I honestly don’t remember everything that happened,” the WVU guard said in the moments that followed the Mountaineers’ 62-60 victory against Cincinnati inside the Hope Coliseum.

In what went down as Ross Hodge’s first-ever Big 12 victory, maybe it was somewhat fitting that not all the critical moments could be remembered, because there were so many of them.

Eaglestaff’s moment was as low-percentage a shot that maybe anyone has taken this season, an awkward 3-pointer with 1:12 remaining and with the shot clock about to hit zero.

“I just heard the guys on the bench counting down; 3, 2, 1,” Eaglestaff said. “I was like, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to get this shot up.’ ”

Somehow it went in, giving WVU (10-5, 1-1 Big 12) a 58-57 lead when the Mountaineers had trailed by five points just a minute earlier.

“Eaglestaff made a prayer,” was the way Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller saw it. “You can’t defend it any better than we did. Sometimes guys just step up and make a crazy shot. That’s just basketball.”

It was an amazing shot in a game where baskets were hard to come by. Cincinnati (8-7, 0-2) was held to just 34.3% shooting, but the Mountaineers handed the ball over 15 times. The 15th one nearly proved dire, as Cincinnati guard Jizzle James intercepted an inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds remaining and got off a 3-point attempt from about 35 feet away that didn’t exactly threaten to go in.

“To win a game like this, a lot of things had to go right,” Hodge said.

For the Mountaineers, they had a lot of things go right. Honor Huff finished with six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points. He, too, had nailed a nearly impossible long shot just seconds before Eaglestaff did.

While going to his left, Huff threw up a 3-pointer over the outstretched hands of Cincinnati guard Day Day Thomas, who was whistled for a foul on the play. Huff’s shot went in to cut the Bearcats lead to 57-55.

That led directly to Eaglestaff’s prayer being answered, giving WVU the lead for good.

“Eaglestaff’s three and Huff’s three, those were the plays that made the difference,” Miller said.

It didn’t exactly stop there, especially for Huff. In a game that featured two seven-footers – Cincinnati’s Moustapha Thiam and WVU’s Harlan Obioha – as well as Cincinnati’s 6-foot-11 forward Baba Miller, it was the miniature-sized Huff (he’s listed at 5-10, but don’t believe that) who came away with a game-leading eight rebounds.

“I was letting them know in the locker room,” Huff joked. “That’s big for me, eight rebounds. On a serious note, they tell me I’m going to have to help, no matter what my size is. I think today, I put an emphasis on myself to put myself in the right positions to ger rebounds or at least not let my guy get the rebound.”

WVU, which got forward Brenen Lorient back in the starting lineup after he sat out a game while in concussion protocol, threw the early punch, taking a 19-6 lead behind 10 points from Huff.

Cincinnati chipped away and took a 57-52 lead with 4:47 remaining after James and Jalen Celestine nailed 3-pointers and Thiam dunked the ball on a fast break.

“What was the most encouraging thing to me, was when they hit the threes, our collective energy and spirit in our huddle was that they still had a belief that we could win the game,” Hodge said. “They probably didn’t know how we were going to win it, but they had a belief that we could still win it.”

Eaglestaff finished with 10 points and Chance Moore came off the bench to add 14 points. Celestine scored 15 to lead Cincinnati, which made only two of its final eight shots to finish the game.