Tucker DeVries Signature Game Lifts WVU Basketball Over No. 24 Arizona

Tucker DeVries had his first signature game as a Mountaineer as WVU basketball secured third place at the Battle 4 Atlantis with an 83-76 win over Arizona in the Bahamas on Friday.

DeVries scored a game-high 26 points with eight three-pointers.

It was West Virginia’s (5-2) second win over a ranked opponent in three days as No. 24 Arizona (3-4) will surely fall out of the top 25.

Each team put together an early run with Arizona going 8-0 and WVU responded 6-0 a few minutes later.

It looked like the Wildcats could start pulling away when a 7-2 run put them up by six, 34-28, with four minutes left in the first half. That’s when DeVries caught fire, sinking back-to-back-to-back three-pointers for a 9-0 personal run that put WVU ahead 37-34.

WVU led 39-37 at halftime and the break did not cool off DeVries, who opened the second half with two assists and another three-pointer on the team’s first two possessions.

Even when DeVries went to the bench with three fouls the Mountaineers kept building on their lead. A three-pointer by Javon Small and a jumper from KJ Tenner rounded out an 8-0 run that put WVU up 54-46.

DeVries came back in and hit again from range for a 57-47 advantage.

Arizona battled back to make it just a three-point lead with less than a minute to play and Caleb Love’s triple with 14 seconds left knotted the game up 66-66. DeVries couldn’t get the final shot to fall as the Mountaineers went into overtime for the third time in three days.

WVU went up by six points thanks to back-to-back make by Toby Okani and Javon Small made his free throws late to secure the win.

Okani added 20 points, Small scored 14 and Amani Hansberry finished with 13.

Love led Arizona with 24 points and Trey Townsend had 19.

WVU scored 24 points on 14 Arizona turnovers. The Wildcats only had six points off turnovers.

After getting beat badly on the boards early in the game, WVU evened out the rebounding as the game went on. The teams tied 39-39, but the Mountaineers had more offensive rebounds, 15-12.

WVU basketball will now fly back to Morgantown and have a week off before hosting Georgetown in the WVU Coliseum next Friday.