MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Thirteen games into the season, West Virginia has three players that have made more than 25 three-pointers, including Tucker DeVries, whose 26 triples came across the first eight contests.
DeVries has yet to play in the five games since as a result of an upper body injury, and as the Mountaineers have worked to overcome several other injuries, perhaps the only positive that’s come from it is an expanded opportunity for several other players.
Among them are freshman Jonathan Powell, who was an integral part of the team’s rotation from the season opener, but made his fourth consecutive start Saturday against Oklahoma State.
The 6-foot-6 swingman who hails from Centerville, Ohio, made the most of his latest chance by tying his career-high with 17 points in a 69-50 victory against the Cowboys.
“It’s really no difference,” Powell said of starting as opposed to filling the role of a reserve. “I come in the game and do my job, play my hardest and do what I need to do to help my team win.”
In the victory over OSU, Powell played 34-plus minutes and made 6-of-10 shots, including 5-of-7 three-pointers. With his performance, Powell now leads the Mountaineers with 32 triples this season, giving him one more than guard Javon Small, the team’s top scorer.
“I can shoot a little bit, so that helps me,” Powell said. “Just knowing the game and what I need to do and my work ethic kind of leads me to put me in the position I’m in.“
Originally signed to play at Xavier, Powell requested to be released from his National Letter of Intent and ultimately settled on West Virginia approximately six weeks after Darian DeVries was announced as the Mountaineers’ new head coach.
Powell is one five Mountaineers (11-2, 2-0) to have played in all 13 games to this point. His average of 9.3 points is fourth on the squad, though his 121 points are two back of Amani Hansberry for the second-best total on the team.
Powell’s production has mostly come from long range as 83 of his 105 field-goal attempts are three-pointers. He’s made 43 shots and 32 triples.
“I don’t know if we thought he’d be our second best scorer, but from the moment he walked on campus, he was pretty confident,” DeVries said. “He doesn’t have a mental block shooting threes. If anything, he’s growing in confidence every day.”
Powell has scored in double figures eight times and on four occasions over the last five games. His roughest stretch to this point came over four games starting with the three West Virginia played in the Battle 4 Atlantis, when Powell was 1 for 14 with five points in three overtime games.
When the Mountaineers retuned home, Powell was again quiet and scored three points on 1-for-4 shooting in a win over Georgetown.
Since that stretch, in five games without DeVries, Powell is averaging 13 points and has made multiple threes in every contest, while connecting on 18-of-39 tries from beyond the arc.
“What he’s done a really good job of is learning to slow himself down,” DeVries said. “That’s true of a lot of freshman. Even when he was making some early in the year, some of the inconsistencies like in The Bahamas when he struggled a little bit, he was just a little rushed. He was trying to hit five threes on one shot. He’s done a much better job the last couple weeks. We talk to him about you’re 6-6, slow down and shoot it like you’re playing horse. If they block it, it’s going to go out of bounds and still going to be our ball. He’s done a nice job with that.”
Powell has played well in both of West Virginia’s road games to this point. In the team’s worst showing this season — an 86-62 loss at Pitt — Powell led the Mountaineers with 16 points. More recently and perhaps more impressive was his performance at Kansas, when Powell finished with 11 points, four rebounds and two steals. He made 4-of-9 shots and three treys against the Jayhawks.
“Away or home, no matter what, I think I’m always going to knock shots down,” Powell said. “It was a great experience for my first Big 12 game.”
With DeVries’ status in question for the remainder of this season, Powell could well remain a regular in the starting lineup. Regardless, he’s likely to continue being one of the Mountaineers’ more featured players. Powell has logged more than 27 minutes each of the last five games.
“I’m a little advanced, but other than that, I still have way more stuff to learn and grow with to become a better player,” Powell said. “Other than that, I’m just having fun right now.”