West Virginia is through the non-conference portion of their schedule, but now the real challenge starts as Big 12 play is around the corner.
The Mountaineers sit at 9-2 through 11 games but have 20 games remaining, all coming against Big 12 opponents. For head coach Darian DeVries, he's happy with how his team is continuing to battle adversity and find their identity but knows there's still a long way to go.
"I think what I like the most, though through non-conference play, is this team has grown with confidence," DeVries said.
On the court, what has stood out to DeVries is how his team defends. Currently, the Mountaineers rank second in the Big 12 in opponent field goal percentage, third in opponent field goal percentage, sixth in total turnovers forced, and first in blocked shots.
"I think they believe in one another, they believe in what we're trying to do, and I think they're playing, especially defensively, to an identity that we want to have, and that's being tough and physical and playing aggressive and then on offense, playing together and moving the ball. We just got to continue to grow in all those areas," DeVries said.
While defensively, West Virginia has excelled, there are still areas the Mountaineers are going to have to get better in, according to DeVries.
"Number one thing for us, really two things, is the rebounding piece. Defensive rebounding that's an area we have to get better at on that side of the ball, and then I still feel like we turn it over a little bit too much at times, so we'd like to cut down on that. Those two areas are probably the things when we come back we got to really continue to focus on and get better at as we get into Big 12 play," DeVries said.
West Virginia ranks last in the Big 12 in combined opponent rebounds, and they also have the worst rebounding margin in the Big 12.
Overall, DeVries' goal is for his team to continue to grow on a nightly basis. It doesn't matter if they're playing in November or March, he wants his team to continue to get better with each game.
"Even with the start of conference play, we're not a finished product by any means, and hopefully, we're not a finished product until that last buzzer sounds, that we're continuing to grow and get better," DeVries said.
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