Brandon Watkins has been here for years, and he’s now rocking his peers. We’re nine games in — and he missed one because of a problem with punctuality — the senior has more than doubled his career averages for points and rebounds per game while sharing the team-lead with Elijah Macon and shooting 61.5 percent per game.

Macon, of course, starts for No. 12 West Virginia. Watkins plays, scores, rebounds and blocks shots more often. If it’s a bit unexpected, it’s OK to think that. Watkins  has now missed 20 games in his career, and Bob Huggins wasn’t even sure over the summer if Watkins would be with the 2016-17 Mountaineers.

“He had a little vacation this summer,” Huggins said after the 799th win of his career, a 90-55 victory that Watkins aided with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes. “It was one of those things where you need to decide if this is what you really want to do.”

Basketball had tested Watkins again and again during his first three years with the Mountaineers. The nephew of former WVU great Warren Baker, Watkins started once and played in 32 of the team’s 33 games in the 2013-14 season and averaged 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11 minutes per game. He had 12 points and 11 rebounds in a win against Marshall and 10 points and seven rebounds in the Big 12 tournament against Texas. Watkins led the team with 24 blocked shots.

“I think we all saw glimpses of it,” Huggins said, “but it seemed like every time it looked like Brandon was about to break out, something happened.”