West Virginia is going to be without senior forward Tucker DeVries indefinitely due to an upper-body injury.
And that’s clearly a big loss on the roster for many reasons. DeVries is a centerpiece to what the Mountaineers do on both ends of the floor and is averaging 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 41.2-percent from the floor and 47.3-percent from three.
Head Coach Darian DeVries said that that West Virginia will continue to rely on the medical team to give them direction on what needs to happen next. But in the meantime, the season will still proceed forward even while DeVries isn’t able to suit up for the Mountaineers.
You simply can’t replace that DeVries does with one person, but the Mountaineers don’t have to attempt that either as the message has simply been that the expectations won’t change while he’s absent from the lineup.
“Knowing we have to step up and do the things that Tuck may have done, but it’s not just going to take one person to replace Tuck. It’s going to take all of us,” freshman guard KJ Tenner said. “So just being ready and staying prepared and ready. You never know what can happen.”
The Mountaineers received the news Tuesday prior to the game against North Carolina Central and the players on the team immediately embraced the attitude of next man up. West Virginia passed that initial test with a 79-45 convincing win over the Eagles.
“We adjusted well. It’s always next man up. Everybody was ready,” senior guard Joseph Yesufu said.
It was a matchup that featured a lot of changing defenses from North Carolina Central and required West Virginia to navigate that with lineups where players were in spots they hadn’t played before. That was a little choppy at times, but the Mountaineers quickly settled in and found their rhythm.
The loss of DeVries and the 34.5 minutes per game that he was filling means that others will have to step into those roles. Eight different players saw at least 20 minutes and the Mountaineers went with a starting lineup that featured Amani Hansberry at the four and Eduardo Andre at the five.
DeVries expects that will change depending on the matchup, although he admittedly would like to settle into a starting lineup if possible while his son isn’t able to be on the floor.
But even without DeVries, the Mountaineers still have to do the same things that have led to their 7-2 start.
“We want to be tough. We want to be physical. We want to be aggressive. We want to take care of the ball which I thought our guys did a really good job tonight with only nine turnovers. And defensive rebounding,” he said. “Overall, none of that stuff changes.”
Now, the coaching staff can tweak where certain guys will be situated on the floor or add new plays to take advantage of certain lineups such as getting Hansberry the ball in the post which wasn’t necessarily the case often when he was positioned as the five in the offense.
But West Virginia has to approach the current situation of preparing for each game with who’s available until that changes. The Mountaineers have already dealt with injuries early this season with Jayden Stone still sidelined and Andre even missing a game as well.
And while unfortunate, it opens the door for others.
“There is always an opportunity waiting for someone. You just need to make sure when that opportunity comes you’re ready for it. It’s coming we just don’t know how or when, but that opportunity is going to come and when it does you need to be ready for it because if you’re not somebody else might be,” DeVries said.
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