Tag: strive

West Virginia’s opponent this weekend has played as well as any team through the first half of the regular season and done plenty to warrant being a legitimate National Championship contender.

For the Mountaineers to score another marquee victory in Darian DeVries’ first season as head coach, they’ll undoubtedly need to be near their best come 5 p.m. Saturday when they welcome second-ranked Iowa State to the WVU Coliseum for a matchup that can be seen on ESPN+.

“They’re championship-level good,” DeVries said of the Cyclones. “When they get in the tournament, they have a chance to win it all.”

Indeed, Iowa State (15-1, 5-0) has been extra impressive to this point, rattling off 12 straight wins since its only setback — a two-point loss to current No. 1 Auburn on a neutral court. 

The Cyclones have already defeated Colorado, Baylor, Utah, Texas Tech and most recently Kansas in Big 12 matchups. They trailed for the majority of last Saturday’s 85-84 overtime win in Lubbock, but were in control throughout a 74-57 victory against the Jayhawks on Wednesday.

The Cyclones lead the Big 12 with 85.4 points on average, and remain among the conference’s top defensive teams surrendering an average of 65.3 points on 40.7 percent field-goal shooting.

“I was hoping you all could maybe come up with a weakness for me,” DeVries said. “They were really good last year, too, but the component they’ve improved the most on is the offensive side. Their bigs can really pass and they play well off one another. It’s really complemented their guards from a year ago. They were great defensively last year and they’re great defensively again this year. Now they can really score on top of it, which makes them even more of a challenge to try and beat.”

Five Iowa State players average double-figure scoring, though only four will be in action Saturday as 6-foot-8 forward Milan Momcilovic is sidelined for an indefinite period of time due to a recent hand injury suffered in practice. Momcilovic averages 10.3 points and was second of the team with 31 three-pointers on only 70 attempts through 15 games and 14 starts, before missing his first game this season against KU.

Head coach T.J. Otzelberger has plenty of other options to fall back on, led by the Big 12’s second-leading scorer in 6-4 guard Curtis Jones, who averages 17.8 points and has drained 46-of-111 threes.

Keshon Gilbert, another 6-4 guard, is the team’s second-leading scorer at 15.5 points and is fourth among all Big 12 players with a team-high 78 assists.

Joshua Jefferson, a 6-9 forward, contributes 11.9 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds on average, while 6-1 guard Tamin Lipsey is another steady backcourt presence and averages 10.4 points to go with his 52 assists and team-high 39 steals.

Dishon Jackson, a 6-11 center, is another key contributor and averages 9.9 points and five boards.

Jones, Gilbert, Jefferson, Lipsey and Jackson have played in all 16 games to this point.

“If they’re not the best, they’re one of the best and most balanced teams out there in terms of the ways that they can score and beat you,” DeVries said. “That’s what’s really elevated them to another level this year. There are a lot of hard decisions to make from the defensive side. You can’t take away everything, so you have to pick something and have a plan B as well — if that’s not working, let’s go to this. They present those challenges. The biggest thing is you have to compete at every position to make things as difficult as possible.”

The only Big 12 player averaging more points than Jones is WVU point guard Javon Small, who continues to lead the conference with a scoring average of 19.4.

All 13 of Small’s points came in the first half Wednesday during the Mountaineers’ 70-54 loss at No. 10 Houston, and the Cougars consistently geared extra attention toward WVU’s toward offensive weapon.

“With Houston, that’s what they do to everybody, so it wasn’t specific to just Javon. That’s kind of their team defense and how they play,” DeVries said. “Throughout the year, Javon is going to get a lot of attention coming off ball screens. Iowa State is very good defensively and they’re certainly going to challenge everything from him on ball screens, too. Javon is going to see two guys a lot anytime he’s in a ball screen.”

While West Virginia (12-4, 3-2) hung tough for stretches and trailed by just three with outside 12 minutes remaining, the Mountaineers were outscored 25-9 in points off turnovers despite having only five more (12-7) than the Cougars.

“Similar to our game the other night, when you make a mistake, they capitalize on it. You’re never going to play a perfect game, but making as few of those mistakes as you can is going to be really important,” DeVries said.

One major positive development was the play of Mountaineer forward Amani Hansberry, who made 6-of-7 shots and scored 16 second-half points at Houston after a scoreless opening half with one shot attempted.

It was Hansberry’s highest scoring output since he matched it with 16 points a month ago against Mercyhurst, and a sign WVU’s second-leading scorer among healthy players is returning to form after missing a New Year’s Eve win at Kansas due to an ankle injury.

Hansberry averages 10.1 points, and the Mountaineers remain without forward Tucker DeVries, who averaged 14.9 points through the first eight games, but has missed all eight since.

Saturday’s game will also serve to honor the memory and legacy of WVU legend Jerry West.

West died on June 12, 2024, and the Mountaineers will don Jerry West era throwback uniforms in the contest.

Members of the West family are expected to be in attendance.

The Mountaineers have won eight straight and nine of 11 in Morgantown against the Cyclones.

Saturday’s game was announced a sellout on January 9.

“I’m expecting this place to be rocking,” DeVries said. “The Coliseum is really highly thought of across the basketball world. Even when I was looking at what’s this job about and things, that’s the first thing that comes out from almost everybody. Big 12 place, that place is legit from a fan standpoint and has an impact on games. I’m really excited to feel that. The students are back, it’s sold out and I can’t wait for that energy to fill the arena tomorrow.”