West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries addressed the media ahead of the road matchup with Kansas State. WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
--DeVries said that the defensive rebounding and defense in general wasn't good enough in the second half against Arizona State.
--The biggest thing with Kansas State is Coleman Hawkins is a point forward type and they will use him in pick and pops and in the mid-range and force you to make decisions. He is a willing passer and it makes things challenging.
--Some of it with when dealing with size is getting the bigs to move around and on the other side of it what they're good at and how they can be successful.
--You can get some transition against Kansas State and that will be important for them to find some in space and get up and down the floor.
--Nothing new on Tucker DeVries or Jayden Stone.
--DeVries said some the guys have played incredibly hard in wins and that's been the formula most of the year. Some of the nights they don't have that it's been more of a challenge for them.
--DeVries said if you look at Kansas State outside of the Houston game all of their games have come down to the wire in Big 12 play. They're right there, they just haven't had the wins to show for it. He thinks they're a really talented team that presents a lot of problems for the opposition.
--DeVries said that the guys from Illinois know Coleman Hawkins well and they have a feel for what he likes and the type of player he is and where he likes to get his shots from on the floor. What makes Hawkins good is his versatility because he can shoot it from deep and his ability to go post. He can put you in some tough spots and if you switch it he's going to take you in the post and you have to bring help and he's a willing passer so it makes it tough from a catch and shoot standpoint.
--DeVries said it can be very evident when players haven't played together before and sometimes it takes time to gel. Kansas State has started to figure out how to play through one another and how those pieces all fit together. Even West Virginia is still figuring some things out as they've found new ways to do things on each end of the floor through some of the injuries and things.
--The challenge is game to game and week to week teams change and they continue to try to evolve and become more efficient on both ends of the floor. Sometimes it just clicks and you feel you have it. They go pretty far back on scouts such as last year and treat teams with that type of respect.
--DeVries said they have a great group of guys and they're willing learners and work hard. They are great teammates and even nights it's a struggle they are pretty connected and are giving everything they've got to help us win collectively and that's part of the season that West Virginia has had some success.
--DeVries said that Kansas State isn't doing anything wrong on defense and they've had some incredibly close games in the Big 12. They are figuring some of the things out.
--DeVries said he thinks that the virus that hit the team has cycled through.
--West Virginia did take Javon Small off the ball more in the Arizona State game but they aren't going to take him off of it too much. They want to try to use KJ Tenner at times to get him on the move and give him some more space but at the end of the day you're trying to figure out ways to get him back to the ball.
--There's ways to get creative but you have to utilize him in all aspects because teams are so worried about Small. Maybe use him as a screener and they could get an easy one because he is on the floor. They could even post him up a little bit but it comes down to what are you going to get out of it and the opportunities you're creating for everybody else on the floor.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
