The injury bug continued to plague West Virginia on Tuesday night in their loss to Arizona.
The Mountaineers were once against without Tucker DeVries and Jayden Stone, but backup point guard KJ Tenner was also out after he took a hard fall against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
"I mean we played seven guys, we’re fine. Injuries happen, foul trouble happens, we’re just going to play. That’s just part of it," West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said.
DeVries would not give an update on Tenner's injury status postgame, but did comment on Stone who was not seen on WVU's bench during the game, saying he's dealing with a family issue.
While it might have been easier for the Mountaineers to go with the no excuses mantra when they were winning, they struggled a lot to take the load off of Javon Small, especially on the offensive end.
Toby Okani who finished the game with eight points and four rebounds said it's about everyone taking a step forward together.
"I just think everyone is prepared. We practice like everyone is a starter. We just have to pick up the slack that would be missing for injury, and we just have to play a little bit harder because our margin for error is small," Okani said.
Sencire Harris has started to produce more on the offensive end in the last two games after struggling to shoot the ball throughout the majority of the season thus far.
Harris missed the first 28 3-pointers he attempted this season but has made two in each of the past two games. Tonight, he made them both on back-to-back possessions, cutting Arizona's lead to five in the second half. That would be as close as the Mountaineers would get though.
Harris carries a similar mindset to DeVries and Okani, saying it's all about who's next coming off the bench.
"Coach always says to us, next man up and we got to be able to step up for our teammates in every which way," Harris said.
West Virginia got only 10 points from their bench tonight, with Amani Hansberry accounting for eight of those points. However, Hansberry, who has been dealing with a lingering issue would exit the game as well. DeVries did not offer any update on his injury after the game.
The Mountaineers are now set to enter a wild next 11 days which has them travel to Colorado, travel to Houston, and then come back and face Iowa State at home, all between Jan. 12-18.
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