West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries was understandably proud and happy with not only his team's effort tonight, but the final result.
The Mountaineers held on for a 71-69 road win over Utah, getting them on the cusp of the NCAA Tournament with one game left in the regular season.
"What I was really proud of the guys about is they bounced out of it and then started to find it a little bit and then they started to play with that confidence and swagger that we love to see," DeVries said.
WVU trailed by as many as 12 in the first half as Utah controlled the opening portion of the game. West Virginia worked their way back into the game though, taking a 30-29 halftime lead.
In the second half, Utah led by as many as eight, before WVU answered time and time again, leading for the final 3:42 of the game.
"I thought the second half, we really dug in and had some big stops as that half wore on and then offensively, I thought we started to find a little more rhythm how to go get in the paint, go make plays for one another," DeVries said.
A lot of the credit DeVries gave was towards his veterans on the team. Javon Small, Joe Yesufu, Eduardo Andre, all older guys who stepped up late in the second half.
Andre, who was gushing blood and lying on the floor in the final minute of the first half, finished the game with four points and three rebounds, but those came at crucial times. Andre got a defensive board on consecutive possessions, and then on offense Small made a 3-pointer and Andre caught a lob from Small, putting West Virginia in front because of those two scores.
"Those seniors made huge plays for us. The urgency they played with, whether it was Joe [Yesufu] or [Eduardo Andre] playing with four cotton things in his mouth, you probably need the whole quart of blood tonight, you know as much as that thing was leaking," DeVries said.
Small finished the game with 18 points, seven assists, and four rebounds, and DeVries rightfully showered him with praise.
One of Small's biggest buckets was a runner with 37 seconds to play as he spun away from Utah defenders with the shot clock close to expiring, banking it off the window and making it fall through the hoop.
"To be honest, after that it was just Javon making a play, let's be real. So, I'd like to say yeah that's exactly how we drew it up but at the end of the play it was like we just knew we wanted to get it back in Javon's hands," DeVries said.
This is a big win for WVU as it's their sixth Quad 1 victory of the season, getting them closer and closer to being a lock for the NCAA Tournament field.
"That's a great win for us. You know a long road trip you know tough night at BYU and we we tried to scrap that as fast as we could but then you sit around for you know almost three days to come in and be able to get get a win and now we get to go get some rest tonight in the in a hotel and then get up in the morning and fly home," DeVries said.
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