West Virginia's goal is to build their brand of basketball based on how they play on the defensive end of the floor.
To do that, West Virginia will need more performances like they got from Sencire Harris in the second half against Houston on Wednesday.
Harris has been the catalyst for WVU's defense this season and that was no different against Houston. Trailing by 20 in the second half, Harris' assignment was switched and with that, he started picking up the Cougars the full 94 feet of the court.
"Sencire when he’s really hooked up and into the ball, he’s as good as there is anywhere in the country and I thought that changed the whole game around to start the second half. We flip-flopped the matchups a little bit because we had him on [LJ] Cryer first half but we felt coming out of halftime if we wanted to change the pace, the attitude of the game, we needed Buck on the ball pressuring full court to give us some life and I thought he did an unbelievable job with that," West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said.
West Virginia opened the second half on a 11-0 run, sparked by their play on defense. Houston turned the ball over three times during that span, while they struggled to run offense early on in the second half.
"There was some moments in that first half that Buck’s really good when he’s doing what he was doing in the second half. The first half wasn’t that same tenacity and we need him to be," DeVries said.
Harris' value comes on the defensive end. He finished with six points, two rebounds, and two steals against Houston, but it goes deeper than that for the Mountaineers who look to him to provide a spark on that side of the ball.
"Buck’s not a guy that’s going to go out and hit eight threes for you. That’s just not his strength right now. His strength is to dominate that ball and dictate defensively. Then you can see all of our guys just follow him and all of a sudden they just fed off of him and now our whole defense picked up. I thought he did the same thing in the second half at Kansas State. Down 24 and he comes out in the second half and he had a different approach to it and changed the game around again in a positive way," DeVries said.
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