West Virginia puts a lot on the shoulders of guard Javon Small.
That isn’t any type of secret as Small has been the centerpiece for the Mountaineers on the offensive end especially since Tucker DeVries went down with an injury.
of the floor and putting the ball in the basket proved challenging against Arizona State.
Small was just 2-11 from the floor and 0-8 from three as the Sun Devils gave him plenty of attention with multiple players running at him and made it hard for him to have space to operate or get into the paint.
That makes others key to step up on the offensive end.
“On a night where they made it hard for him to get loose and free. We’ve got to be able to find different ways to score. That’s been our struggle,” head coach Darian DeVries said.
The Mountaineers are continuing to work on things on the offensive end to get more movement such as setting flares and down screens in order to free up not just Small but others.
“Where they don’t have to be like a primary ball handler but be able to come off of something to create some space and get two on the ball,” DeVries said. “That’s just something that we’ve got to continue to work on.”
Small was able to impact the game with his ability to get to the foul line connecting on 10-11 attempts there to finish the game with 14 points despite those struggles. That demonstrated his understanding of the game and on a night where he isn’t hitting shots he can still impact the scoring sheet in other ways.
“I thought he did a nice job of attacking the rim and at least getting himself to the line,” DeVries said.
But if this team is going to win basketball games consistently in the Big 12 the senior guard is going to be a big part of that scoring and distributing and finding ways to get him loose will be part of that challenge.
Avoiding what unfolded against Arizona State will be critical there.
“They made things hard on Von for sure,” DeVries said.
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