One game down, a bunch more to go. West Virginia began the 2026-27 season with an emphatic 91-46 win over Niagara on Monday night.
Let's jump into what we learned from last night's game, in addition to the three exhibitions and the one thing we still don't know, which may not be answered anytime soon.
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Three things we learned
The depth is legit
I don't care who the opponent was; you can see talent and skills that haven't existed on this team in years. And there is a lot of it. West Virginia had nine players log 15+ minutes vs. Niagara, six of whom saw 20+ minutes. That's not going to change once stiffer competition comes about either. Most years, the rotation would shrink by one or two, but I have a hard time believing that to be the case this season. Every single one of those guys who played 15+ minutes is going to have a role, and each could be the
guy on any given night.
Zero panic with this group whatsoever
Experience matters, even in this day and age of the constant churning of the roster. On paper, this is still a pretty young team, but it is full of guys who have played high-major college basketball before, so they know what to expect even in games like last night, where you are a massive favorite. Down 16-6 and with shots not falling, this group stayed composed and quickly pivoted from shooting a bunch of threes to attacking the basket. Go back to the Maryland game. We saw this to be true there, too. Even after squandering a big lead and being down multiple possessions with little time left, they weren't sped up, forcing shots, or overplaying things defensively. A bunch that can weather the storm will have an incredible amount of success.
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Several quasi-starters
This plays in hand with the depth piece, but just about every spot in the starting lineup has a capable starter behind them on the bench. Martin Somerville behind Miles Sadler, Joson Sanon and Seydou Traore splitting time at the three, Mo Sylla and Amadou Seini splitting time at the five, and Brenen Lorient and Javan Buchanan at the four. If WVU happens to deal with any injury issues, they should be in pretty good shape to overcome them because they would be replacing them with another starting-caliber player.
The biggest question that remains
Is this a top half of the Big 12 defense?
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Holding Niagara to fewer than 50 points is what should happen, so I'm not going to say this is an elite defense yet. They have a long way to go and a bunch of things to clean up before I entertain that type of conversation. The Mountaineers did force 24 turnovers in the game, but some of those were by Niagara's own careless doing. The Purple Eagles still shot 42% from the floor, and while that may not be great, it's an indicator that things would have looked much different, albeit still in a blowout fashion, had they cut their turnovers in half.
To win in the Big 12, you have to defend. I know it sounds like I'm nitpicking here, but it's really more about addressing what is unknown at this point, which is their ceiling on that end of the floor. Is what we saw last night what this team will be able to hang its hat on? That being forcing a bunch of turnovers? Maybe. We'll know more in the coming weeks.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/westvirginia as 3 Things We Learned About WVU - and the Biggest Question That Remains
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