MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia has lost just once over the last six weeks and finished non-conference play with nine victories in 11 games, allowing the Mountaineers to match their win total from all of last season.
Yet ahead of a New Year’s Eve Big 12 Conference opener at perhaps the most difficult venue to win at in all of college basketball — Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse — the Mountaineers are faced with several pressing issues.
At the forefront of the questions is the status of two key players. Forward Tucker DeVries has been sidelined each of the last three games with what the team labeled an upper body injury. DeVries, who underwent offseason shoulder surgery, last played December 6 in a victory against Georgetown. Over his first eight games in West Virginia uniform, the 6-foot-7 senior averages 14.9 points over 34.6 minutes.
In the team’s most recent outing, a 67-46 win over Mercyhurst last Sunday, Amani Hansberry left with a right ankle injury less than 1 minute in and never returned. Thus, WVU played just about all of that matchup without a pair of starters and two players that have combined to average 25.5 points and 11.5 rebounds.
“Those are two very good players and big blows to our team, but we preach here it’s next player up and everybody has to be ready for their opportunity to help us win that certain game,” said 6-foot-8 senior Toby Okani, one of four WVU players to start all 11 contests to this point.
First-year head coach Darian DeVries said he was hopeful Hansberry would not be out a while following the win over the Lakers, but the outlook has not been as optimistic to this point for his son.
In DeVries’ absence, freshman Jonathan Powell takes on an expanded role. Eduardo Andre, the team’s only natural center among the regular rotation, did so as well while playing 24 minutes with Hansberry sidelined against Mercyhurst.
Including DeVries and Hansberry, nine Mountaineers have played an average of at least 14 minutes while appearing in no less than eight games, but how the team hopes to operate largely depends on what personnel is available.
“Offensively, it gets trickier, because every time somebody moves into another spot, it shrinks what you’re allowed to do from a play book standpoint,” coach DeVries said. “Amani’s advantage a lot of times is his versatility and ability to step out and shoot. Eduardo is more of an around the rim guy. That eliminates all the packages where we’re trying to get five out in space, because that’s not Eduardo’s strength. Those type of things make it a little challenging from a coaching standpoint — what can we run with this lineup out there? Sometimes four of the five guys know what to do, but one doesn’t. It’s hard to execute something when you’re doing that, so sometimes you have to freelance a little bit more.”
Among 16 Big 12 teams, the Mountaineers rank 14th in scoring and field-goal percentage at 77.5 points and 44.2 percent, respectively. However, WVU has limited opponents to 37.3 percent shooting — the second best mark among Big 12 teams — and 63.8 points on average to rank fourth in the league in scoring defense.
Regardless of who’s available moving forward, rebounding remains an aspect the team desires the most improvement in.
For the season, WVU has 409 rebounds and its opponents have 406. Its plus-0.3 rebounding margin is last among Big 12 teams, and the Mountaineers have allowed 23 more offensive rebounds (133) than they’ve come up with (110).
“The No. 1 thing for us is the rebounding piece and defensive rebounding,” coach DeVries said. “That’s an area we have to get better at on that side of the ball. I still feel like we turn it over a little bit too much at times. Those are the two areas we have to continue to focus on and get better at as we get into Big 12 play.”
While victories over Gonzaga, Arizona and the Hoyas helped create successful results over the season’s first eight weeks, consistent challenges await within league play, starting with the matchup at Kansas.
The Mountaineers have never won in 11 previous tries at Allen Fieldhouse.
“With the start of conference play, we’re not a finished product by any means, and hopefully we’re not a finished product until that final buzzer sounds, and we continue to grow and get better,” coach DeVries said. “What I like the most through non-conference play is this team has grown with confidence and they believe in one another and what we’re trying to do. Especially defensively, they’re playing to an identity we want to have, and that’s being tough and physical and playing aggressive, and on offense, playing together and moving the ball. We have to continue to grow in all those areas.”