–West Virginia came into this week with the daunting task of playing Houston and Iowa State and while the Mountaineers fell short on the road against the Cougars they were able to deliver the first Big 12 loss of the season to the Cyclones in a really hard-nosed, tough and physical basketball game. Both teams worked extremely hard on the defensive end of the floor and it seemed like every single basket took so much effort. This game had the same type of feel as the old Big East games and I really enjoyed this one with how it was called and how every possession mattered.
–Javon Small is just special. At times it seems that he’s just moving at a different speed than everybody else on the floor and he completely took over down the stretch of this game. He finished with 27 points, but scored 12 of the final 13 points and made sensational plays over and over again. West Virginia played him off the ball quite a bit at times, but in crunch time it was Small with it in his hands and he was able to get to the rim and make some shots to help engineer the upset. On top of 27 points, Small had 7 rebounds and 5 assists to go with 4 steals. He was +11. Scoring 27 points is impressive but doing it against those guards is even more so. He’s playing with so much confidence.
–Sophomore Amani Hansberry hit some really big shots in this game going 4-9 from the field and 4-8 from three. You’d like to see him take some more shots outside of threes, but it seemed like every one that he made was at a significant point for this team. It was also good to see him grab six rebounds.
–Freshman Jonathan Powell had 9 points on 3-8 shooting and he was really active on defense. I think he’s continued to improve and has been a key player for this team.
–Toby Okani only scored 5 points but thought he was so important on defense in this game. He’s so versatile and was asked to guard bigger guys quite a bit and held his own. He was +9.
–The steal and finish by Eduaro Andre might be my favorite play of the season. He didn’t make the right decisions the entire game, but Andre scored 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
–West Virginia held a 25-24 lead at halftime and only turned the ball over 4 times while forcing 7 turnovers, all steals on the defensive end. For the game, the Mountaineers had 14 steals and 3 blocks, some of those unfolding in key stretches down the end of this game. In total, West Virginia had only 9 turnovers in this game and took care of the basketball.
–Mentioned it earlier, but this was such a fun game to watch with two defenses just going at the opposing team. Iowa State is so wide and physical, while the Mountaineers didn’t back down. The Cyclones were just 1-17 from three in this game but did have 40 points in the paint. The Mountaineers had great ball pressure and really seemed to disrupt what the Cyclones wanted to do.
–West Virginia lost the rebounding edge 38-28 but still found a way to win but most importantly they kept Iowa State off the offensive glass with only 8 boards and 6 second chance points.
–West Virginia is now 4-1 against ranked teams this year and two of those wins have come without Tucker DeVries on the floor. It’s just been an incredible job by Darian DeVries and this basketball team this season and it’s just another impressive resume win for a team that keeps exceeding expectations at this point of the season.
–Javon Small is just special. At times it seems that he’s just moving at a different speed than everybody else on the floor and he completely took over down the stretch of this game. He finished with 27 points, but scored 12 of the final 13 points and made sensational plays over and over again. West Virginia played him off the ball quite a bit at times, but in crunch time it was Small with it in his hands and he was able to get to the rim and make some shots to help engineer the upset. On top of 27 points, Small had 7 rebounds and 5 assists to go with 4 steals. He was +11. Scoring 27 points is impressive but doing it against those guards is even more so. He’s playing with so much confidence.
–Sophomore Amani Hansberry hit some really big shots in this game going 4-9 from the field and 4-8 from three. You’d like to see him take some more shots outside of threes, but it seemed like every one that he made was at a significant point for this team. It was also good to see him grab six rebounds.
–Freshman Jonathan Powell had 9 points on 3-8 shooting and he was really active on defense. I think he’s continued to improve and has been a key player for this team.
–Toby Okani only scored 5 points but thought he was so important on defense in this game. He’s so versatile and was asked to guard bigger guys quite a bit and held his own. He was +9.
–The steal and finish by Eduaro Andre might be my favorite play of the season. He didn’t make the right decisions the entire game, but Andre scored 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and a block.
–West Virginia held a 25-24 lead at halftime and only turned the ball over 4 times while forcing 7 turnovers, all steals on the defensive end. For the game, the Mountaineers had 14 steals and 3 blocks, some of those unfolding in key stretches down the end of this game. In total, West Virginia had only 9 turnovers in this game and took care of the basketball.
–Mentioned it earlier, but this was such a fun game to watch with two defenses just going at the opposing team. Iowa State is so wide and physical, while the Mountaineers didn’t back down. The Cyclones were just 1-17 from three in this game but did have 40 points in the paint. The Mountaineers had great ball pressure and really seemed to disrupt what the Cyclones wanted to do.
–West Virginia lost the rebounding edge 38-28 but still found a way to win but most importantly they kept Iowa State off the offensive glass with only 8 boards and 6 second chance points.
–West Virginia is now 4-1 against ranked teams this year and two of those wins have come without Tucker DeVries on the floor. It’s just been an incredible job by Darian DeVries and this basketball team this season and it’s just another impressive resume win for a team that keeps exceeding expectations at this point of the season.
