Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Floyd Adjusting to Power Conference Basketball and Life in Morgantown
October 07, 2025 02:46 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Unfortunately for West Virginia University senior guard Jasper Floyd, Dave & Buster's is coming a year too late for him.
Ground has already been broken on the popular arcade and restaurant, set to open next fall at the WestRidge business and retail park off Interstate 79 just outside of Morgantown, soon after the conclusion of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
Up until this summer, the Tampa resident's entire life has been spent living near urban areas. It was that way when he attended Northwest Florida State College, located between Pensacola and Panama City, Florida. It was that way the following year when he transferred to Hillsborough College in Tampa.
It was that way when he moved on to Fairfield University in Fairfield Connecticut, just a short drive on Interstate 95 from New York City, and it was that way when he transferred to North Texas in Dallas to play for coach Ross Hodge.
Now, living in Morgantown, West Virginia, he's looking at deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, chipmunks and trees instead of skyscrapers and tall buildings.
There is certainly familiarity playing for Hodge and with North Texas teammate Brenen Lorient, but Floyd admits he's still getting used to his daily surroundings.
"Throughout my lifetime, or my college career, the schools that I've been at I've been around pretty major cities, so from that aspect it is kind of different," he said recently. "We're about 90 minutes away from Pittsburgh, but it feels the same being with the same people I was with last year."
Small town living does have its benefits, though.
At the other places he's been, he can go about his day pretty much anonymously. In Dallas, he could wear his basketball gear or even tape North Texas Basketball Player on his forehead, and somebody might recognize him, or more likely, they wouldn't and just go about their business.
In Morgantown, a lot of people already know who Jasper Floyd is, and he's yet to score a single basket or hand out an assist for the Mountaineers.
"Whenever I go out somewhere people will ask me questions, 'What team are you on? What are the expectations for this year? Be ready for the Coliseum.' Another positive is that everything is close around here and the people show a lot of support, so that's a real positive right there," he explained.
"The negative is sometimes I just like to go out and see the skyline sometimes downtown with the city view, and I don't have that here. There are more positives than negatives though."
Once North Texas' season ended last year in the semifinals of the NIT, Floyd said his top option was joining Hodge at WVU in the Big 12 Conference. Getting to play college basketball in a power conference has always been one of Floyd's primary goals.
However, he did consider going to Florida State where two of his sisters are presently attending.
"I have two sisters who cheer at Florida State. I'm from Florida, my parents were just up to (Tallahassee) for family and friends' weekend, so Florida State hit me up and that was intriguing," he admitted. "But for me, it was about being in a situation that I knew I could be in, and I knew what I was going to get out of it, and they knew what they were going to get out of me.
"This was my No. 1 option, for sure, but the Florida State journey would have been a dream come true for my mom," he added.
Floyd's journey to Big 12 basketball has certainly been intriguing as well.
The 6-foot-3 guard played on a junior college national championship team at Northwest Florida State College in 2022. Early that season, he wasn't getting much playing time, but his coach encouraged him to stick with it and keep working hard.
Eventually, Floyd got an opportunity, and he seized it.
"That run was crazy," he said. "We weren't even supposed to be in that tournament and people thought we were going to lose the first game. Besides our second game, we really ran through the tournament. In tournaments, all you need is that momentum and everyone believing they are going to win. That run was special."
The next year at Hillsborough College, he averaged 14.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, which got him noticed by Fairfield of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
His one season at Fairfield in 2024 saw the Stags reach the conference championship game and win the CBI.
Then, it was on to North Texas where the Mean Green placed second in the American Athletic Conference standings, two games behind league champion Memphis. North Texas eventually reached the NIT semifinals before UC Irvine ended its postseason run.
To this point in his Division I career, Floyd has yet to experience a conference championship or to play in the NCAA Tournament.
"I understand the hurt and the feeling of losing close games, and I have been close to what I want to taste ultimately," he said.
To win, Floyd believes it's about putting your faith in the coaching staff and the coaching staff putting their faith in their players.
"One thing I really love about this coaching staff and coach Hodge, is they'll come up with a scheme and if we're going over it in practice and somebody doesn't like the way certain coverages are supposed to be called, or what a read is supposed to be, if we mention that they'll adjust to that," he explained. "We have a say-so. If we walk into a film session and we see a weakness that the coaching staff hasn't pointed out, we'll point it out, and they will find a way to exploit that.
"That's not how it is everywhere," Floyd admitted. "No. 2 is actually going out there and doing it and being able to adjust."
Having a year under his belt with Hodge, Floyd understands what it takes to thrive in his system.
"Defense first, for sure," he explained. "You've got to be able to play defense and be willing to do the things that he asks. Everybody wants to get it on the first try, but he understands in this day and age, with moving parts and different players all the time, that it's going to take time to do certain things that he's teaching us.
"(Hodge) gives the patience that we need, and young players need, these days to get over the hump. You've got to be able to listen, and then he has really good schemes on offense to put us into our strengths and not our weaknesses," he added.
Although Floyd played junior college basketball, he classifies himself as a graduate student taking master's-level classes with aspirations of playing professional basketball. That means this year will likely be his last in college.
He is one of seven seniors on a roster of 14 new players this season for West Virginia. Floyd says everyone is all in on winning right now.
"The coaching staff and the administration are all in, and I think we have what we need to not only win a lot of games but win a Big 12 championship and get into the NCAA Tournament and make a run to the Final Four," he predicted.
"I've got the ultimate amount of faith in my ability. I've got the ultimate amount of faith in this coaching staff, and I've got the ultimate amount of faith in my teammates, so it's just the next opportunity for me and I'm ready for it.
"To me, this is the best conference in the country, and I've always dreamed of playing at the highest level of college basketball, and it's just God blessing me with this opportunity. I'm ready to take it all in," he concluded.
In the meantime, looking at those tall buildings can wait another year.
Ground has already been broken on the popular arcade and restaurant, set to open next fall at the WestRidge business and retail park off Interstate 79 just outside of Morgantown, soon after the conclusion of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
Up until this summer, the Tampa resident's entire life has been spent living near urban areas. It was that way when he attended Northwest Florida State College, located between Pensacola and Panama City, Florida. It was that way the following year when he transferred to Hillsborough College in Tampa.
It was that way when he moved on to Fairfield University in Fairfield Connecticut, just a short drive on Interstate 95 from New York City, and it was that way when he transferred to North Texas in Dallas to play for coach Ross Hodge.
Now, living in Morgantown, West Virginia, he's looking at deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, chipmunks and trees instead of skyscrapers and tall buildings.
There is certainly familiarity playing for Hodge and with North Texas teammate Brenen Lorient, but Floyd admits he's still getting used to his daily surroundings.
"Throughout my lifetime, or my college career, the schools that I've been at I've been around pretty major cities, so from that aspect it is kind of different," he said recently. "We're about 90 minutes away from Pittsburgh, but it feels the same being with the same people I was with last year."
Small town living does have its benefits, though.
At the other places he's been, he can go about his day pretty much anonymously. In Dallas, he could wear his basketball gear or even tape North Texas Basketball Player on his forehead, and somebody might recognize him, or more likely, they wouldn't and just go about their business.
In Morgantown, a lot of people already know who Jasper Floyd is, and he's yet to score a single basket or hand out an assist for the Mountaineers.
"Whenever I go out somewhere people will ask me questions, 'What team are you on? What are the expectations for this year? Be ready for the Coliseum.' Another positive is that everything is close around here and the people show a lot of support, so that's a real positive right there," he explained.
"The negative is sometimes I just like to go out and see the skyline sometimes downtown with the city view, and I don't have that here. There are more positives than negatives though."
Once North Texas' season ended last year in the semifinals of the NIT, Floyd said his top option was joining Hodge at WVU in the Big 12 Conference. Getting to play college basketball in a power conference has always been one of Floyd's primary goals.
However, he did consider going to Florida State where two of his sisters are presently attending.
"I have two sisters who cheer at Florida State. I'm from Florida, my parents were just up to (Tallahassee) for family and friends' weekend, so Florida State hit me up and that was intriguing," he admitted. "But for me, it was about being in a situation that I knew I could be in, and I knew what I was going to get out of it, and they knew what they were going to get out of me.
"This was my No. 1 option, for sure, but the Florida State journey would have been a dream come true for my mom," he added.
Floyd's journey to Big 12 basketball has certainly been intriguing as well.
The 6-foot-3 guard played on a junior college national championship team at Northwest Florida State College in 2022. Early that season, he wasn't getting much playing time, but his coach encouraged him to stick with it and keep working hard.
Eventually, Floyd got an opportunity, and he seized it.
"That run was crazy," he said. "We weren't even supposed to be in that tournament and people thought we were going to lose the first game. Besides our second game, we really ran through the tournament. In tournaments, all you need is that momentum and everyone believing they are going to win. That run was special."
The next year at Hillsborough College, he averaged 14.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, which got him noticed by Fairfield of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
His one season at Fairfield in 2024 saw the Stags reach the conference championship game and win the CBI.
Then, it was on to North Texas where the Mean Green placed second in the American Athletic Conference standings, two games behind league champion Memphis. North Texas eventually reached the NIT semifinals before UC Irvine ended its postseason run.
To this point in his Division I career, Floyd has yet to experience a conference championship or to play in the NCAA Tournament.
"I understand the hurt and the feeling of losing close games, and I have been close to what I want to taste ultimately," he said.
To win, Floyd believes it's about putting your faith in the coaching staff and the coaching staff putting their faith in their players.
"One thing I really love about this coaching staff and coach Hodge, is they'll come up with a scheme and if we're going over it in practice and somebody doesn't like the way certain coverages are supposed to be called, or what a read is supposed to be, if we mention that they'll adjust to that," he explained. "We have a say-so. If we walk into a film session and we see a weakness that the coaching staff hasn't pointed out, we'll point it out, and they will find a way to exploit that.
"That's not how it is everywhere," Floyd admitted. "No. 2 is actually going out there and doing it and being able to adjust."
Having a year under his belt with Hodge, Floyd understands what it takes to thrive in his system.
"Defense first, for sure," he explained. "You've got to be able to play defense and be willing to do the things that he asks. Everybody wants to get it on the first try, but he understands in this day and age, with moving parts and different players all the time, that it's going to take time to do certain things that he's teaching us.
"(Hodge) gives the patience that we need, and young players need, these days to get over the hump. You've got to be able to listen, and then he has really good schemes on offense to put us into our strengths and not our weaknesses," he added.
Although Floyd played junior college basketball, he classifies himself as a graduate student taking master's-level classes with aspirations of playing professional basketball. That means this year will likely be his last in college.
He is one of seven seniors on a roster of 14 new players this season for West Virginia. Floyd says everyone is all in on winning right now.
"The coaching staff and the administration are all in, and I think we have what we need to not only win a lot of games but win a Big 12 championship and get into the NCAA Tournament and make a run to the Final Four," he predicted.
"I've got the ultimate amount of faith in my ability. I've got the ultimate amount of faith in this coaching staff, and I've got the ultimate amount of faith in my teammates, so it's just the next opportunity for me and I'm ready for it.
"To me, this is the best conference in the country, and I've always dreamed of playing at the highest level of college basketball, and it's just God blessing me with this opportunity. I'm ready to take it all in," he concluded.
In the meantime, looking at those tall buildings can wait another year.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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