WVU Basketball Finally Found Another Way to Win

WVU basketball figured some things out on offense and found a way to win that it hasn’t used in over a month in Saturday’s victory over Utah.

Saturday’s 72-61 win was the first time in over a month that someone other than Javon Small was the leading scorer in a win and just the second time in Big 12 play that at least four Mountaineers scored double-digit points. The last time someone other than Small was the leading scorer in a victory was in the first game of Big 12 play when Eduardo Andre scored 15 points at Kansas on Dec. 31. The last time four Mountaineers finished in double figures was on Jan. 12 at Colorado.

The last time both of those things happened in the same game was the team’s final game in The Bahamas on Nov. 29 against Arizona. Tucker DeVries, who hasn’t played in two months and recently had season-ending surgery, was the leading scorer in that game with 26 points.

On Saturday, Amani Hansberry led WVU (15-8, 6-6) with 17 points while Small had 14. Joesph Yesufu also scored 14 and Jonathan Powell had 11.

“Javon’s our leading scorer, but we need more than Javon to win games,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said. “You need other things to win games.”

Like every team has done against the Mountaineers recently, Utah’s defense focused solely on stopping Small. The Utes did a good job of it, limiting the Big 12’s leading scorer to just five shot attempts. However, where in past games WVU’s offense struggled to score without Small carrying the load, on Saturday the Mountaineers were able to spread the ball around and get contributions from almost everyone.

“You have to give them a lot of credit,” Utah coach Craig Smith said. “We were trying to take the ball out of (Small’s) hands…but other guys made plays and at the end of the day, that was the difference.”

It also wasn’t like Small was completely shut down. He made it to the foul line nine times and made all nine to finish with 14 points while also dishing out eight assists.

“I thought Javon did a terrific job of taking what the defense gave him,” DeVries said. “He was able to capitalize on some of the doubles that allowed somebody else to be open behind him. And then those other guys did a really good job of stepping up.”

Yesufu has been playing well lately, but Hansberry and Powell had both been in a bit of a cold streak over the last couple of weeks. Before Saturday, Hansberry was 2-18 from three over his last five games and Powell was 4-21 over his last four. Against Utah, the pair combined to shoot 5-11 from beyond the arc.

“It’s just getting out of my head and shooting with confidence,” Hansberry said. “We need me and (Powell) to hit big shots when the time comes.”

Yesufu was 6-10 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers himself. WVU almost got five players into double figures as Toby Okani finished with nine points.

“Every game is a team thing,” Powell said. “It’s not one player or two players, it takes all of us to win a game.”

The Mountaineers hadn’t had four players score double-digit points in seven games and won only two of them.

“When we get (Powell), Amani and Joe involved in the scoring the way that they did, that just gives us such a big spark as an offense,” DeVries said. “You have (Powell), Amani and Joe connecting from deep and that makes a world of difference for us.”

Earlier in the season when WVU was winning games, this was semi-regularly. Prior to Tucker DeVries’s injury, WVU had at least four double-digit scorers in five out of eight games. Small was the leading scorer in four of those games and DeVries was in three.

Since DeVries has been out, West Virginia had been a little stagnant on offense, even when the team was winning. Saturday’s game was one of the first times that the weight of WVU’s offense wasn’t solely on Small’s shoulders, and the Mountaineers were a better team for it.

“On a night like tonight, you can see what we’re capable of even when Javon doesn’t have the opportunities,” Coach DeVries said. 

WVU basketball returns to the hardwood tomorrow night when BYU comes to town for a 7 p.m. tipoff (CBS Sports).

For a related story, Utah coach compliments atmosphere inside WVU Coliseum.