Takeaways: WVU Basketball Showed its Full Potential In the Bahamas

WVU basketball coach Darian DeVries is fond of saying his team is only concerned about being the best version of itself. The Mountaineers showed what that version looks like during an impressive Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas last week.

Wednesday’s win over No. 3 Gonzaga opened eyes across the country and Friday’s win over No. 24 Arizona proved that it wasn’t a fluke. The Mountaineers went to the Bahamas with plenty of question marks, especially after the team’s bad loss to Pitt. A week in paradise answered many of those questions and helped us learn a lot about this roster.

Javon Small is a Star

WVU’s senior point guard was an absolute star in the upset win over Gonzaga and he carried that play throughout all three games in the Bahamas.

Small shot over 50% against Gonzaga and Louisville. He scored 31 points against the Zags and put up a stat line of 26 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals against the Cardinals.

“He’s a tremendous player,” DeVries said. “Javon’s one of those guys that I’ll take on my team any day, anywhere at any time. He’s a high-level player and he’ll play at the next level…He would make any team better.”

While the game against Arizona wasn’t his best statistical performance, it might still have been the most impressive. Clearly gassed from all the minutes he had played, Small was still WVU’s leader on both ends of the floor.

Even after playing 43 minutes in all three games, Small was still the guy the Mountaineers trusted to go to the foul line at the end of the game. He delivered, going 9-10 from the line and finishing with 14 points and eight assists.

“If 14 and eight is a bad night, I’ll take that every single night,” DeVries said. “He played 43 minutes again, he’s probably rested about six total minutes this week.”

Hansberry and Okani Have Found Their Roles

WVU basketball went to the Bahamas needing someone to step up as a third option behind Small and Tucker DeVries. The Mountaineers come home with a couple of options having emerged.

Center Amani Hansberry had three of the best games of his career in the Bahamas, scoring a career-high 19 points against both Gonzaga and Louisville. The 6-8 sophomore will be undersized in almost all of his matchups this season, but he excelled in the pick-and-roll last week.

Hansberry showed versatility in his game by popping out and making a trio of three-pointers against Gonzaga. When the Zags started staying out on the perimeter to cover him, Hansberry found a lot of success rolling to the basket instead.

Senior Toby Okani had a bit of a quieter tournament but ended it with a bang. The 6-8 guard scored double-digit points in all three games and finished with a season-best 20 against Arizona. He found success working as the third option, whether that was standing in the corner waiting for a pass or flashing to the basket when defenses focused too much on Small or DeVries.

Depth Will be an Issue

West Virginia is a top-heavy team. Each member of the starting five played over 100 minutes across the three games in the tournament.

WVU only used five players off the bench in the entire tournament — Jonathan Powell, KJ Tenner, Eduardo Andre, Joseph Yesefu and Haris Elezovic. Yesefu only played five minutes against Louisville and Elezovic played seven minutes against Arizona only because Andre was out with an injury.

If the team can’t develop better depth as the season goes on, a single injury to one of the starting five could have a massive impact on the Mountaineers.

The Mountaineers return home with loads of momentum and a chance to close out nonconference play with four more wins, starting with a game against Georgetown on Friday.

For a related story, WVU basketball shot up the KenPom rankings after the Battle 4 Atlantis.