West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries did not want to focus on the final eight seconds of the game following WVU's 62-59 win over Cincinnati on Wednesday.
It was a game the Mountaineers had to have to help them continue their push towards the NCAA Tournament. It seemed as though the game was in hand until it was a disastrous final eight seconds of the game for WVU, before they held on to get the win.
"There was a lot of stake tonight for both of us and both teams knew that and they played that way. But again, glad we pulled it out. Winning is hard. Winning is hard in any league, but especially in this league. To be able to get one back in the good side of the column again, we feel really good about it," DeVries said.
West Virginia trailed by as many as six in the second half after leading for almost the entire first half. The Mountaineers struggled offensively for the first 10 minutes or so of the second half, before they turned it on when it mattered most.
"I thought we came out the second half and we just couldn't get going. I thought the guys did an unbelievable job. We made a couple changes defensively and I thought that was really good for us and the guys really executed it. They made things really tough there down the stretch," DeVries said.
There were multiple guys DeVries pointed to following the win, but none played a larger role than Amani Hansberry.
Hansberry had his second double-double of his career, scoring 17 points and grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds.
"He was great," DeVries said. "He was going with two hands and trying to squeeze them and, you know, rip it out of the air. And, you know, like I told him in the locker room, that's a great job by him to have that kind of mental toughness to fight through a tough night and then to flip the switch and, you know, put it on the opposite end of like you were the reason we won that game or had a huge impact in it."
Another guy DeVries pointed to was Jonathan Powell. Powell had recently struggled, especially shooting the ball, but on Wednesday he finished with 12 points and nine boards, including connecting on a big 3-pointer in the second half.
"JP hit a big one at a moment where he hadn't made any yet. So what a huge shot for him, for us and that got us going a little bit, loosened everything up," DeVries said.
No matter the run and stress Cincinnati caused DeVries in the final seconds as WVU's nine-point lead almost went away entirely, his focus was on the result — a win for the Mountaineers.
"Are we sure it's over — let me double check. What a wild finish," DeVries jokingly said.
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