Kelvin Sampson Offers Honest Assessment of WVU Basketball Under Darian DeVries

Even after beating West Virginia for the second time this season, Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson is confident the WVU basketball program is in good hands with Darian DeVries.

Much like he did following their matchup in Houston, Sampson had tons of kinds words to say about what DeVries has already accomplished in his first year in West Virginia.

“In Darian’s first year, they’ve beaten Gonzaga, they’ve beaten Kansas, they’ve beaten Arizona, they’ve beaten Iowa State. There’s a reason why. Coming in here today, if you would have told me we were going to win by one, we wouldn’t have played the game. Win by one point and go home. You’ve got that two-game road trip at Kansas and at West Virginia…this ain’t no beauty contest. They don’t put no pictures beside the score. It’s just a win,” said Sampson.

He even expanded further when asked if WVU looks any different now in the midst of a losing streak than they did earlier in the season.

“The job Darian has done here…I don’t know if his son would have been their best player but those two guys together would have been a problem. I don’t lose sight of that,” Sampson added.

“But West Virginia’s got a lot of good days ahead of them. They’ve got them a really good ball coach now. You’ll get good players here with this crowd and the tradition of this basketball program. It’s really good.”

Sampson’s No. 6 Cougars picked up a 63-49 win over the Mountaineers on Wednesday night and also took down West Virginia 70-54 on Jan. 15.

DeVries’ team now has a few days to regroup before taking a relatively short trip to Cincinnati to face the Bearcats on Sunday, Feb. 2.