WVU Basketball Hopes to Maintain Offensive Success

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — WVU basketball had one of its best offensive performances of the season Tuesday night against TCU, a breakout coach Darian DeVries is hoping will lead to even greater things.

The Mountaineers (17-11, 8-9 Big 12) shot over 50% from the floor for just the third time this season in their 73-55 win over the Horned Frogs. West Virginia also made double-digit three-pointers for the first time since Jan. 4.

“We put up some bigger rims for this one,” DeVries joked postgame. 

Just a day earlier on Monday, DeVries said he thought his team had that exact sort of offensive breakout still in them this season.

“I was hoping it was a matter of time,” he said. “We’re getting close to that time where we’re running out of time. I thought that’s kind of what we envisioned with these guys and these shooters and I still think there’s more there.”

WVU made 27-of-52 shots from the floor (51.9%) while shooting 11-26 (42.3%) from deep. The team hadn’t scored 73 since Jan. 12 at Colorado, hadn’t shot over 50% since Nov. 20 against Iona and hadn’t made 11 three-pointers since Jan. 4 against Oklahoma State.

“We played together as a team the whole game,” said Javon Small, who led all scorers with 23 points. “We all shot the ball with confidence today and we just have to continue to do that.”

Small hadn’t made more than two three-pointers in his last five games, but shot 6-for-11 from beyond the arc Tuesday. Small and Joseph Yesufu, who was second with 14 points, combined to shoot 10-for-19 from range.

“I believe I can make every shot I take,” Small said. “I don’t care how many shots I miss, I just worry about the next one.”

Sincere Harris scored 11 first-half points and set a new career high with 13 in the game. In total, six Mountaineers made multiple field goals against the Horned Frogs.

“Sometimes as coaches, you’re like ‘hey, let’s save a couple of these,’” DeVries joked. “That confidence spreads throughout the team. There are stretches where you go three, four, five games where everyone feels good, they’re confident and their shots are going down.”

“We brought that energy. When we’re hyped and we’re upbeat, good things happen for us,” Harris said. “When I’m high-energy and I’m upbeat and my teammates are hitting shots, I think everything’s going great for me defensively and offensively.”

WVU was equally good on defense, holding TCU under 40% shooting with 14 turnovers. WVU was 9-12 on layups and dunks, while TCU was just 13-for-26.

“I thought our defense got us started because we were able to get in the open floor and get some transition ones,” DeVries said. “When we get to play not taking the ball out of the net and in transition, the more often you can do that, the better you’re going to be on offense. For us to play a full 40 minutes, that’s what I was most satisfied with.”

West Virginia has been stout on defense for most of the season, with the offense lagging behind at times, leading to some disappointing losses. DeVries hopes Tuesday’s success is a sign of things to come as the Mountaineers head west for a two-game swing at BYU and Utah.

“You have stretches where everybody’s missing the easy one. That’s why we talk about always hanging on your defense,” DeVries said. “Then on those nights where you’ve got it going like (Tuesday), you’re going to be highly successful. I’m hoping we have a few more of those left in us.”

WVU basketball takes on BYU at 10 p.m. in Provo Saturday night. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

For a related story, WVU basketball fans react to getting revenge, convincing win.