MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Strong play to close the first half provided West Virginia with the winning margin as the Mountaineers shook off a series of late runs to defeat Utah, 72-61 in front of 13,166 fans at the Coliseum.
WVU picked up their first home victory since defeating No. 2 Iowa State three weeks ago.
“It was certainly a physical game, as most nights are,” said WVU head coach Darian DeVries. “You’ve got to bring your lunch pail every night. I thought our guys really battled and I thought Utah really battled.”
While the Utes focused their defensive game plan on limiting touches for WVU’s leading scorer Javon Small, Amani Hansberry stepped up with a game-best 17-point effort. He went 6-for-10 from the floor and he added seven rebounds.
“Getting out of my head and shooting with confidence,” Hansberry said. “My teammates believe in me. My coaches believe in me. Me and [Jonathan Powell] both hit big shots when the time comes. I was just staying in the gym and keeping confidence.”
The teams traded lengthy scoring runs in the opening minutes. After Utah scored the first six points of the game, WVU responded by scoring the next eight points. The run was capped by reverse layup from Sencire Harris. Utah regained the lead briefly before the Mountaineers answered with a 7-0 run.
Utah regained the advantage with seven minutes to play in the first half at 22-21. However, WVU scored the final seven points and 15 of the last 20 in the half and they took a 36-27 lead into the locker room.
West Virginia built their first double-digit lead 90 seconds into the second half on a jumper from Hansberry.
Leading by ten points (56-46) at the midway point of the second half, Utah scored baskets on consecutive possessions to pull within five points at 56-51 with eight minutes to play. The Mountaineers rebuilt a ten-point lead with four minutes to play when Jonathan Powell collected a steal at midcourt and he converted the fast break for two of his 11 points.
“I just kind of out-toughed them. I am trying to work on my defense every day in practice. My teammates push me on it. I am trying to apply my defense from practice to the game. That was a good example,” Powell said.
“We’re in the gym everyday, before practice and after practice. Our teammates, they all believe in us to shoot. Just have the confidence to keep shooting.”
Utah would not go away without a response. Jake Whalin scored five points on the Utes’ next two possessions to pull the visitors with five points at 64-59. WVU scored the next eight points to put the game out of reach.
Against one of the tallest front lines in the Big 12, WVU was outrebounded by just two, 35-33.
“We had to do our work early, being conscious just for 40 minutes to box out and go get those rebounds with two hands,” Hansberry said.
“For us tonight, it was not letting them get into spots where that becomes their advantage, trying to keep it out of the paint and being physical and tough,” DeVries said. “Getting them through screens and having them play out in the perimeter as opposed to down three feet where they have the advantage.”
Small made two of his five shots from the floor but he was a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line to finish with 14 points.
“We threw a lot of different things at him, a lot of different things and a lot of different matchups,” said Utah head coach Craig Smith. “A scorer like that and a player like that, unless something is going really, really well, they typically adjust in a great way.”
“All Javon cares about it winning,” DeVries said, “Tonight, they put a pretty good focus on Von and they were not letting him get a lot of clean opportunities. I thought Von did a terrific job of taking what the defense was giving him.”
Joseph Yesufu scored 14 points for the Mountaineers while Powell added 11.
Toby Okani scored nine points, all of those coming in the first half.
“A lot of the stuff he does not show up on the stat sheet,” Yesufu said. “He’s a very integral part of our team. He does all the dirty work for us. I feel like he doesn’t get enough credit for it. His energy he brings for us is huge.”
“I thought in the first half that he was terrific,” DeVries said. “He had that big block and came down and hit a three. He had just a huge offensive rebound that he went and snagged above everybody else and kicked it out to Joe for a three. And he had a play right in front of our bench on a loose ball that he dove for and came up with. Those are the types of things that Toby can do.”
After suffering a lower-body injury in Wednesday’s game at TCU, Harris was in the starting lineup for the Mountaineers. In 19 minutes, he scored five points and added four rebounds.
“It was more of a feel thing tonight of, ‘How are you doing? How are you feeling?’ We got him a lot more rest because he hadn’t practiced,” DeVries said. “He wasn’t a hundred percent. I thought he did a really good job of toughing it out tonight, giving us some minutes and he gave us all that he could.”
Dawes led Utah (13-10, 6-6 Big 12) with 14 points while Whalin added 10.
Josh Eilert is introduced prior to tipoff of WVU-Utah: pic.twitter.com/w5dqGatksB
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) February 8, 2025
Former WVU interim head coach and 16-year assistant coach Josh Eilert was introduced to the sellout Coliseum crowd prior to the start of the game.
“Walking through the tunnel, someone was stopping him every five seconds,” said Utah sophomore forward Keanu Dawes. “He really didn’t have to say much. You could kind of tell being here 17 seasons means something personal to him.”
WVU (15-8, 6-6 Big 12) stays at home to host BYU Tuesday night.