MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Darian DeVries felt West Virginia was mature enough to move forward in timely fashion from one of the program’s more improbable victories in its last game — a scintillating 62-61 victory at No. 7 Kansas.
Oklahoma State found out the hard way.
After both teams struggled offensively for the first 9 minutes, the Mountaineers ran off 36 points over the final 10:50 of the opening half to pull away from the Cowboys in a big way for a 69-50 victory at the WVU Coliseum.
“You come off a game like that, a lot of people are excited about it and rightfully so,” said DeVries, WVU’s first-year head coach. “I felt good about this group though. They practiced well. I didn’t feel [a letdown] at all. But it is sometimes hard when you read your own press clippings and everybody is telling you how good you are. In the first half, you could tell they were very engaged and in tune with what was going on in front of them.”
West Virginia (11-2, 2-0) was without forward Tucker DeVries for a fifth straight game, although Amani Hansberry returned to the lineup after missing the matchup with the Jayhawks due to a right ankle injury. DeVries elected to utilize the same starting five the team had at KU and brought Hansberry off the bench.
The Mountaineers were out of sorts offensively early. They made 3-of-12 shots over the first 6-plus minutes, while turning it over five times by the time the contest was 8 minutes old.
Yet WVU was locked in defensively, and as a result, it never trailed. The Cowboys made only 1-of-8 shots to start and were 2 for 16 from the field more than 12 minutes in.
“In the first half, we didn’t play together,” OSU first-year head coach Steve Lutz said. “We had some finger-pointing, crying and moaning because our shots didn’t go in. You can’t allow missed shots to affect your defense.”
Starting with a Jonathan Powell three-pointer with 10:50 to play in the first half, the Mountaineers seized control of the matchup.
The first of Powell’s three first-half triples upped the WVU lead to 13-6, and it marked the first of four WVU treys in less than 2 minutes. Javon Small, facing his former school, accounted for the second, while Powell and Small each made another moments after, the latter of which left OSU (8-5, 0-2) facing a 22-6 deficit with 8:52 to play in the half.
“The main thing that got us going was our defense,” Powell said, “and our defense led to offense.”
WVU eventually built its lead to 32-7, before the Cowboys countered with eight straight points in 1:08, a stretch that included consecutive threes from Marchelus Avery.
The Mountaineers outscored OSU 14-4 over the final 4:23 of the half, a stretch that included a second three from Sencire Harris, who made two straight attempts from long range in the opening half after missing his first 28 triples this season.
“You can ask these guys, I’m making them in practice. Come game time, I was struggling,” Harris said. “To see one go in, I’m more relaxed.”
WVU’s head coach was relieved to see the Illinois transfer knock a couple shots down from the perimeter.
“We need him to score and be a threat,” DeVries said. “And he is a threat, we know that from practice. But he has to prove it out on the floor. That’s a big deal for us. It’s another guy you have to guard. He can make them and he will make them.”
Following the 3 for 12 shooting start, the Mountaineers made 11-of-18 shots the remainder of the half to enter the intermission shooting nearly 47 percent.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, made 7-of-28 shots through 20 minutes, turned it over 10 times and surrendered 13 second-chance points while scoring only three.
“Hats off to West Virginia,” Lutz said. “Defensively in the first half, that was a phenomenal job on their part. They turned us over and got us out of what we were doing. They deserve all the credit for that.”
West Virginia was still comfortably ahead 57-34 when Eduardo Andre converted a follow-up opportunity with 11:29 remaining.
The Mountaineers were then held scoreless for more than 6 minutes, during which time they missed seven field-goal attempts, one free throw and had three turnovers. The Cowboys ran off 10 straight points and pulled to within 13 with 5:37 remaining on an Avery three.
Small broke the extended drought with a layup at the 5:07 mark to help restore order, and the Mountaineers built their lead back to 21 over the next few minutes when Powell and Toby Okani accounted for consecutive threes.
“We certainly took our first off the gas in the second half,” DeVries said. “Sometimes, that’s human nature. We weren’t nearly as aggressive on the offensive end, especially in transition and we got a little tired. We were short a couple guys in the second half and couldn’t get some subs in as we normally could. Had to kind of slow it down and it got closer. You start to feel it a little bit, but the guys did a nice job those final few minutes of finishing things off.”
West Virginia has won seven straight and has yet to trail over its first two Big 12 games.
Small finished with a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds. He added four assists and three steals, though he also accounted for six of the team’s 15 turnovers.
Small has led WVU in scoring eight times this season, all of which came over the team’s last 10 games. He has 22 rebounds, including 20 on the defensive end, over the last two contests.
“I do whatever the team needs me to do,” Small said. “We’ve been struggling to rebound. Kudos to Andre, Amani and everybody boxing out so I can just go get the rebound.”
Powell scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting with five triples. The freshman has a team-best 32 threes this season.
“It’s confidence. Coach DeVries and my teammates helped me develop it through summer,” Powell said. “It grows every game. They all trust and believe in me. That plays a part in that.”
Harris added nine points and three steals, while Andre finished with seven points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
WVU freshman guard KJ Tenner exited midway through the second half with an injury and did not return to the bench.
Avery led the Cowboys with 15 points and Abou Ousmane scored 14 to go with 11 boards.
OSU shot 33 percent from the field and 3-of-21 from three-point range. WVU opponents are now a dismal 27.3 percent (75 for 274) on threes this season.
“We have great versatility and good athleticism, but the guys do a good job of being in the gap, but also be there on the catch,” DeVries said. “This group has figured that out fairly quickly.”