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WVU Basketball Willing to Get Creative With Javon Small

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WVU Basketball Javon Small
Kelsie LeRose/WVSN

WVU basketball point guard Javon Small has been one of the best, if not the best, players in the Big 12 this season and the Mountaineers have used him as such.

He has 101 more field goal attempts, 16 more three-point attempts, 64 more free throws, 63 more assists and has played 140 more minutes than anyone else on the West Virginia roster. And while Small has excelled in that role as WVU’s No. 1 option — he’s near the top of the Big 12 in most offensive categories — opponents have recently begun to learn how to slow down the Mountaineers’ top dog.

Small has shot over 40% just once in WVU’s last five games, a stretch that includes three of the team’s five losses this season. In those same games, Small reached 20 points in the two victories, at Colorado and vs. Iowa State, and failed to do so in the three losses.

The defensive gameplan being deployed against the Mountaineers recently has simply been to make Small’s life as tough as possible.

โ€œWe just tried to make things as difficult as possible,” said Arizona State coach Bobb Hurley, whose Sun Devils held Small to 2-11 shooting. “Try to show bodies in driving lanes, have guys stabbing at the ball so he couldnโ€™t get any clean drives.”

With Tucker DeVries hurt, West Virginia has no clear-cut No. 2 option, so it has been easy for opponents to focus all of their attention on Small. That hasn’t always worked — Small scored 27 despite facing constant double teams against Iowa State — but when it does, a struggling team like ASU can beat the Mountaineers.

While WVU basketball coach Darian DeVries isn’t going to take the ball out of Small’s hands all of a sudden, he is open to trying a few more things to get his star player better looks. One of those ideas was to play Small off the ball some on offense, letting backup point guard KJ Tenner be the primary ball-handler. Tenner’s recent injury briefly threw a wrench in those plans, but DeVries has tried it a bit since his return.

โ€œWeโ€™re not going to do a heavy dose of Javon off the ball,” DeVries admitted. “Some of KJโ€™s minutes are to rest Javon, to get him off the floor. Then his other half is to get (Javon) off the ball so we can get him on the move a little bit more and get him in space where defenses arenโ€™t quite as loaded up against him.”

The thought process is that opponents can’t double-team Small if he doesn’t have the ball, so the Mountaineers could potentially run some motion or action to get him into an open or one-on-one look.

โ€œAt the end of the day, youโ€™re trying to figure out ways to get him back to the ball,” DeVries said. “You want to do that because he draws so much gravity that it opens up things for other guys as well.”

DeVries even said he isn’t totally against trying to get Small to post up in the paint and get him the ball that way.

โ€œThere are ways to get creative,” DeVries said. “I think the biggest thing is utilizing him in all aspects. Maybe itโ€™s not just bringing him off a screen, maybe heโ€™s a screener because theyโ€™re so worried about him that you flip the script a little bit. Maybe theyโ€™re not as willing to help on a back screen so maybe we can get an easy one.”

Small and the Mountaineers travel to Kansas State to take on the struggling Wildcats Saturday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

For a related story,ย Mountaineer Report: taking the pulse of WVU basketball after ASU loss.

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