West Virginia has certainly had their issues down the stretch run of the grueling Big 12 Conference slate.
The Mountaineers were sitting 13-4 and 4-2 in the Big 12 after knocking off then No. 2 Iowa State at home Jan. 18 and appeared destined to worry about their seeding, not their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament.
But since that point, West Virginia had gone just 4-8 prior to the critical road contest at Utah. Some of that was simply the nature of the league with the Mountaineers running into a number of difficult contests, while others slipped through their grasp in late game situations.
That’s why adding another quadrant one win to the resume by beating Utah 71-69 on their home floor was so critical to put West Virginia in a favorable position entering the final home game of the season against UCF. In total, the Mountaineers now boast six quadrant one wins on the season, a number that puts them in favorable company.
It’s been a season of ups and downs in the first under new head coach Darian DeVries but there’s a lot that needs to be said about how this team has shown resiliency in critical situations.
In three consecutive must-win games at home against Cincinnati and TCU and then on the road at Utah, the Mountaineers were able to get it done to keep themselves safely in the NCAA Tournament field.
That’s with an already short bench after key injuries to senior forward and key player Tucker DeVries just eight games into the year and senior guard Jayden Stone never suited up in a regular season contest. That made an already short rotation even thinner and forced others to step up into unexpected roles.
The results have been what you would expect in that situation, but again this team has found a way to win the ones that they simply couldn’t let get away. That is a sign of what could come as DeVries is able to further fill out the roster in future years and build more quality depth.
West Virginia now has a chance to record 19 regular season wins if they can beat UCF at home and have yet to sustain what would be considered a bad loss this season as all 12 of their losses have come in quadrant one (10) and quadrant two (2) matchups. The Mountaineers have won four Big 12 road games this season, including their first ever at Kansas, doubling the total that the program had over the last three seasons of 2.
West Virginia has relied on a stifling defense that prides itself on ball pressure, while the offense has been able to give them just enough, led by the play of Big 12 Conference Player of the Year candidate Javon Small.
The other pieces around him have had to step up as well into larger roles than expected and when they’re working in tandem as they were in the win over Utah, this becomes a much more difficult team to beat.
Still, while the second half of the schedule hasn’t been fruitful as the first, there’s something to be said about the way that this team has found ways to net the most important in terms of their resume.
That again will be the case against the Knights in front of a sold out crowd on Senior Day and if this team has shown anything over the past few weeks it’s that they’ll be more than ready for the challenge to close strong.
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