Takeaways: WVU Basketball Needs to Find Its 3rd Option

WVU basketball should have a pretty good 1-2 punch this season in seniors Tucker DeVries and Javon Small. It became evident on Friday, however, that the Mountaineers will need more than two good players to beat good teams.

In Friay’s blowout loss in the Backyard Brawl, Pitt focused most of its defensive attention on taking away DeVries and Small and it worked like a charm as the pair combined for just 18 points on 7-24 shooting (2-10 from three).

“I thought we did a really good job of taking their two best guys out of their stuff,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said.

No legitimate third option on offense ever emerged for WVU, despite the team’s desperate need for one. The blueprint is out there now for teams, if someone doesn’t step up to be that third option, all opponents need to do is smother DeVries and Small to make WVU basketball struggle this season.

Hansberry Can’t Foul

The first choice for a third option would be forward Amani Hansberry. As the biggest player in the starting five, he gives the team options inside that Small and DeVries do not. 

Pitt didn’t even need to guard Hansberry, however, as he spent the entire Brawl on the bench with foul trouble. 

“We rely on Amani a lot in our offense,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said. “He was never able to get into a flow and we were never able to utilize him to play out in space.”

That, too, was part of Pitt’s game plan.

“We wanted to try and attack Hansberry,” Capel revealed. “We thought he could foul and he was in foul trouble for most of the game.”

Hansberry eventually fouled out with just two points.

Other Options Aren’t Hitting

Other options are the remaining two starters, Toby Okani and Sencire Harris, and Joseph Yesufu off the bench. The problem is, none of the three of them have gotten shots to fall through the first three games. Okani leads the trio averaging 6.3 points, but is shooting just 36.8% (7-19) from the floor. 

Harris, a defensive specialist, got a number of open looks on Friday but missed all four of his three-pointers and is averaging just 3.7 points. All but one of Yesufu’s shots this season have been from deep, where he’s shooting 2-6.

Combined, the trio is shooting 14-38 (36.8%) from the floor and 2-14 from range. They combined for 10 points in the Brawl.

Can the Freshmen Do It?

So far through three games, the Mountaineers’ best sparkplugs have been freshmen guards Jonathan Powell and KJ Tenner.

Powell led WVU with 16 points against Pitt and was the only player with multiple three-pointers, shooting 4-10. Tenner scored seven points on 3-5 shooting.

“I thought for freshmen in their first true road game they came in with a lot of confidence and played incredibly hard,” Coach DeVries said. “And they played well on top of that. I love the way those two guys approach it, I love the spark they give us off the bench and that’s been pretty consistent.”

Powell is averaging the fourth-most minutes on the team, behind DeVries, Small and Harris. He’s also the only player other than DeVries and Small averaging double-digit points.

It’s hard to rely on a true freshman to be your third option on a nightly basis, but so far Powell and Tenner have played well enough to be in consideration.

For a related story, Darian DeVries said size wasn’t the biggest issue for WVU basketball on Friday.