West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries has been consistent since he took over in Morgantown. He wants his teams to be defined by their toughness and gritty effort.
It's hard to deny that hasn’t been the case through the non-conference portion of the schedule, but the opening to Big 12 Conference play might have been the best example to date.
The Mountaineers not only beat No. 7 Kansas on the road for their first win after 11 previous defeats inside Allen Fieldhouse, but they never trailed in doing so. In fact, the game was only tied once in the final seconds.
That type of win would be impressive under any circumstances, but when you factor in that West Virginia was without three key players including two starters in forward Tucker DeVries and sophomore Amani Hansberry it’s a marque type of victory for the Mountaineers.
Especially when you factor in the travel issues that the team dealt with in flying to Lawrence. But you didn’t hear any complaints from DeVries and it’s a message that has resonated with his team by evidence of their play on the floor.
“Incredibly proud of the guys' effort, especially with the circumstances, the injuries, the travel. There are no excuses in this program. We’re going to line up, we’re going to compete,” DeVries said.
Javon Small played all 40 minutes and scored the final 7 points including the game-winning free throw, while the Mountaineers got other contributions up and down the roster in the win. It was a total team effort.
West Virginia moved to 10-2 on the season and 1-0 in Big 12 Conference play with the 62-61 win over the Jayhawks, another signature mark in the first year of DeVries' tenure atop the program. It follows in the footsteps of an impressive three-overtime-games in three days in the Battle 4 Atlantis where the Mountaineers knocked off No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 24 Arizona in the process.
But that isn’t something that DeVries spent any time focusing on when asked about what the early season success meant in terms of potential tournament seeding down the line.
“None of that means anything if you don't line up in conference play and put yourself in position from a conference standpoint for conference wins and quality wins,” DeVries said when asked about the non-conference success. “You’ve got to continue to stack those up.”
The focus has and will continue to be on improving from game to game regardless of who is available to suit up or what other factors are happening around the basketball program. West Virginia is focused on controlling what they can control and so far are doing a pretty impressive job at that.
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