My Fiver on WVU's victory over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse yesterday afternoon....
1. Not gonna lie - before tip I was borderline despondent about Tucker DeVries essentially shutting it down, the mystery of Jaden Stone (I'm starting to question whether he truly exists), and now Amani Hansberry's hidden injury. But prior to the first media TO when Bill Self sprang to his feet and gave a flying "timeout" signal after Jon Powell drained a trey right in front of him to give WVU a 7-0 lead....one thing became apparent>>> WVU was ready for this one. On offense, we were running Javon Small off of a variety screens, and Kansas had no clue that Eduardo Andre was so agile. We were getting what we wanted, and defensively, we completely stymied a Kansas team who thought they were going to walk over us.
2. Can't say enough good things about the effort and determination of Javon Small. We've watched Dejuan Harris Jr. torment WVU point guards for years, most notably our last game at Allen Fieldhouse when he stole Keddy Johnson's soul with 6 steals, forcing 8 Keddy turnovers in a two-point KU win. Yesterday WVU clearly had the best PG on the floor, and arguably the best overall player on the court in Small. He played all 40 minutes and scored 13 points, snagged 11 boards, dished out 6 assists, and stayed out of foul trouble. 3/4 free throws down the stretch was huge. Until we get back to something resembling full strength, we are going to need Small to carry this team.
3. The poise of this team reflects their head coach. We all knew the run was coming. It was inevitable. Sure enough, KU cut the lead to 50-48 with 6 min. to go and their crowd was in a frenzy. In the past, this is where we fall apart. However, Darian DeVries was as cool as a cucumber on the sideline. Over the next two minutes, we continued to play methodically at our pace, and go on a huge 7-2 run with a beautiful Joseph Yesufu trey sandwiched between a KJ Tenner runner and a Javon Small teardrop near the end of the shot clock. We never wavered. KU kept their foot on the gas, kept getting to the free throw line, but we did just enough to hold them off down the stretch, which was something we've waited to see for such a long, long time.
4. Make no mistake about it....Darian DeVries coached circles around Bill Self yesterday. Self made a nice adjustment during the 2nd half of blitzing our screens and running the monster Fiory Bundunga at Javon Small to disrupt his ability to run the offense. But, yesterday's game was a masterclass in coaching on BOTH ends of the floor by DeVries. The connected man defense not only switched screens effectively, but also ran back into place when mismatches became apparent, without giving up open looks. We have an absolute gem in DeVries. In Cat's first year, he took down ranked Pitt squad. In Beilein's first year, he took down a top ten Florida squad. In Huggs's first year, he gave us wins over Arizona and Duke back-to-back. Now, in DeVries's first season, he has led WVU to take downs of #3 Gonzaga, Arizona and now #7 Kansas at the Phog. We are going to have a tactical advantage in pretty much each and every game we play this season.
5. 10-2, 1-0 in the Big 12. We are now projecting as an 8-seed in the Bracket Matrix. We are squarely in the mix and will be ranked come Monday morning. We have a long, long way to go. But, Like a first sip of a fantastic red wine after a bit of filet mignon, I'm going to lean back and savor this one. This was a historic victory.
1. Not gonna lie - before tip I was borderline despondent about Tucker DeVries essentially shutting it down, the mystery of Jaden Stone (I'm starting to question whether he truly exists), and now Amani Hansberry's hidden injury. But prior to the first media TO when Bill Self sprang to his feet and gave a flying "timeout" signal after Jon Powell drained a trey right in front of him to give WVU a 7-0 lead....one thing became apparent>>> WVU was ready for this one. On offense, we were running Javon Small off of a variety screens, and Kansas had no clue that Eduardo Andre was so agile. We were getting what we wanted, and defensively, we completely stymied a Kansas team who thought they were going to walk over us.
2. Can't say enough good things about the effort and determination of Javon Small. We've watched Dejuan Harris Jr. torment WVU point guards for years, most notably our last game at Allen Fieldhouse when he stole Keddy Johnson's soul with 6 steals, forcing 8 Keddy turnovers in a two-point KU win. Yesterday WVU clearly had the best PG on the floor, and arguably the best overall player on the court in Small. He played all 40 minutes and scored 13 points, snagged 11 boards, dished out 6 assists, and stayed out of foul trouble. 3/4 free throws down the stretch was huge. Until we get back to something resembling full strength, we are going to need Small to carry this team.
3. The poise of this team reflects their head coach. We all knew the run was coming. It was inevitable. Sure enough, KU cut the lead to 50-48 with 6 min. to go and their crowd was in a frenzy. In the past, this is where we fall apart. However, Darian DeVries was as cool as a cucumber on the sideline. Over the next two minutes, we continued to play methodically at our pace, and go on a huge 7-2 run with a beautiful Joseph Yesufu trey sandwiched between a KJ Tenner runner and a Javon Small teardrop near the end of the shot clock. We never wavered. KU kept their foot on the gas, kept getting to the free throw line, but we did just enough to hold them off down the stretch, which was something we've waited to see for such a long, long time.
4. Make no mistake about it....Darian DeVries coached circles around Bill Self yesterday. Self made a nice adjustment during the 2nd half of blitzing our screens and running the monster Fiory Bundunga at Javon Small to disrupt his ability to run the offense. But, yesterday's game was a masterclass in coaching on BOTH ends of the floor by DeVries. The connected man defense not only switched screens effectively, but also ran back into place when mismatches became apparent, without giving up open looks. We have an absolute gem in DeVries. In Cat's first year, he took down ranked Pitt squad. In Beilein's first year, he took down a top ten Florida squad. In Huggs's first year, he gave us wins over Arizona and Duke back-to-back. Now, in DeVries's first season, he has led WVU to take downs of #3 Gonzaga, Arizona and now #7 Kansas at the Phog. We are going to have a tactical advantage in pretty much each and every game we play this season.
5. 10-2, 1-0 in the Big 12. We are now projecting as an 8-seed in the Bracket Matrix. We are squarely in the mix and will be ranked come Monday morning. We have a long, long way to go. But, Like a first sip of a fantastic red wine after a bit of filet mignon, I'm going to lean back and savor this one. This was a historic victory.
