It took a total team effort in the second half for No. 21 West Virginia on Sunday as they held on to beat Colorado.
The Mountaineers survived a Colorado run which had them cut WVU's 14-point lead to just one possession, before the Mountaineers ultimately prevailed, scoring a 78-70 win.
"Overall, like I've told the guys, I don't care how we get it done, just get it done," West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said.
The Mountaineers would have two guys foul out in the second half as both Eduardo Andre and Sencire Harris were sent off. Colorado would score 24 of their 41 points from the free throw line in the second half, but West Virginia had countless contributions from across their team.
Andre scored 12 points, had four rebounds, and four steals. Jonathan Powell scored 10 points in the first half to help the Mountaineers, but the biggest non-Javon Small contributor was Joe Yesufu.
Yesufu scored 18 points, the most he's scored in a game since the 2020-2021 season, with 13 of those points coming in the second half.
"I thought Joe really had a huge second half for us. Like I told him, he's done a great job of continuing to keep himself ready and wait for that opportunity in his preparation but we needed his speed and his ability to get to the rim in the second half when we needed to get downhill and Javon was exhausted and rightfully so," DeVries said.
The Mountaineers were able to keep Colorado off the free throw line in the closing minutes of the first half. In the final 5:27, Colorado made only four free throws, as WVU was able to guard without fouling.
"I thought we got a little more solid down the stretch defensively and we didn't put them at the free throw line. A large part of that was, we want to be physical and tough defensively, but we gotta do it without fouling," DeVries said.
As it turned to a free throw fest for the Mountaineers late, it would be a play from Toby Okani, who went 0-for-5 from the line that helped make the difference. Okani secured an offensive rebound off a missed free throw from Small, which ultimately put WVU back on the line, helping them extend their lead.
"Those are the things you're up by I think six at the time, we miss a free throw, and he gets the offensive rebound... for him to come up with that board, get us a second chance opportunity, now we're able to make, I can't remember if we made one or two, but we went up three possessions," DeVries said.
WVU improves to 3-1 in Big 12 play, and now travels to face Houston on Wednesday.
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