West Sr., Mitchell on Best Virginia Taking Out Herd That: ‘We Don’t Make it Easy’

CHARLESTON, W.Va – Best Virginia won a physical, scrappy 82-75 game over Herd That in the second round of the TBT Sunday. After leading by as many as 16 points, Best Virginia’s advantage dwindled to just five in the Elam Ending.

ROUND OF 32: Watch the Game Highlights from Best Virginia vs. Herd That, 07/20/2025 pic.twitter.com/rsg8Q6xmqA

— TBT (@thetournament) July 20, 2025

Head Coach Jarrod West Sr. put it simply in the postgame press conference.

“We don’t make it easy,” West said .

The game saw an aggressive start, with Wesley Harris battling against Herd That’s Jacorey Williams inside. West contrasted Sunday’s game with the team’s first round win over Dubois Dream.

“Previous game was 94 feet, running jump, spacing, you’re shooting threes, this game is bully ball, grown men ball,” West said. “And that first possession that you saw, it was some bodies, some bodies moving. So scouting report, we knew was going to be a 15-feet-in physical game. We wanted to speed it up.”

When it came to preparing for Herd That, West said matching physicality became “the whole scouting report.”

“That was our whole scout. That was our whole scouting report,” West said. “We knew we had to match their intensity, match their physicality, try to make them hit shots over the top of us.”

Part of Best Virginia’s key to being physical inside was JD Weatherspoon, who finished with a team-high 14 rebounds and 10 points in 21 minutes. After Weatherspoon received no minutes in the first game, West said the 32-year old forward reached out to him directly and professionally.

“He texted me and as a professional, he told me, ‘hey, coach, I can help’… But I said ‘Be ready,” West said. “And I mean, Spoon, he was a beast.”

Tre Mitchell made the game-winning shot with a mid-range jumper in the Elam Ending. He said he knew he would have that opportunity to score after passing in the same look the play before.

“They dropped into that zone and then, I truly feel like anytime I get the ball in the middle of that zone, I could do anything with it,” Mitchell said. “So I knew the look I was going to get because I was in the same exact spot the possession before, except I just put it up this time.”

Best Virginia will take on Elite Nation in the TBT Sweet 16 at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.

Find more coverage of Best Virginia at WV Sports Now.