There’s a lot of basketball still left to play this season but West Virginia is putting together quite the resume under first-year head coach Darian DeVries.
The Mountaineers now sit at 13-4 overall, 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference, and boast perhaps the best collection of wins in the nation just a little past the mid-way point of the season. West Virginia has beaten No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 24 Arizona on a neutral floor, No. 7 Kansas on the road and now has added No. 2 Iowa State at home to the list after knocking off the Cyclones Saturday.
Fittingly on a day when the basketball program celebrated the life and career of former great Jerry West, the Mountaineers responded with a major statement giving Iowa State their first loss in the Big 12 Conference and only their second overall this season.
“I think it’s obviously a big win for us and our program. I think the world of Iowa State. Incredibly well-coached, great team. Like I said before, they’re one of the best teams in the country and have a chance to play on that last day. Overall I was really proud of our guys,” DeVries said.
In front of a sellout crowd of 14,444, the Mountaineers were able to hold the Cyclones to 1-17 from three and forced a total of 14 turnovers. The crowd played a role, but the team had to do their part as well. It was clear that the ball pressure applied by West Virginia was able to disrupt what Iowa State wanted to do and they also kept them out of transition with just 9 turnovers themselves.
“I thought our guys really competed defensively. I thought they were very physical on the ball, trying to get through screens and trying not to give them a lot of space to operate,” DeVries said.
The win over No. 2 Iowa State is the second win over a top-five team this season and the third against a team positioned in the top 10. Overall, the Mountaineers are 4-1 against ranked teams this season and are 4-4 in quadrant one games this year.
That’s impressive for any team but especially one that was picked No. 13 in the Big 12 preseason media poll. It’s clear that the Mountaineers weren’t listening to those projections.
That’s by design as DeVries has talked to his team from day one about not limiting themselves in anything they do. Just continue to work and compete with no excuses.
And this club would have plenty of reasons to name some excuses off if they wanted to as West Virginia has managed the wins over Iowa State and Kansas without one of their best players in forward Tucker DeVries out of the lineup with an upper-body injury. Guard Jayden Stone has yet to even suit up this year and there have been several others in and out of the lineup.
Instead, the coaching staff has focused on the things that the Mountaineers need to be good at in order to win and the success has followed.
“I’ve never been a guy that’s like we need to win this many games to be successful. It’s more about how can we maximize this group? If you can do that, the wins follow,” DeVries said.”I think our guys are giving us everything they’ve got. They don’t play perfect every night but I don’t ask them to do that. Just leave it out there.”
It’s hard to argue that this group of players has done anything less.
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