It’s no secret that teams are attempting to limit the impact that West Virginia senior guard Javon Small can have on the offensive end of the floor.
Small is receiving plenty of attention on the perimeter and teams are clogging up the driving lanes to prevent him from getting shot opportunities at all levels.
It’s easier said than done, however, and even while Small might be limited with his shots he can still make his impact felt in other departments.
Over the past two games, Small has only attempted 9 shots and made 4 of those but also has made the correct play more often than not with 17 assists during that timeframe.
“We always love to get Javon more shots. I mean, we tried a lot of different stuff to try to free him up. We weren’t able to get him free,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “But again, if he’s able to get nine assists that says he’s doing a good job of making the plays that are available because of how they’re guarding him.”
Even more impressive is the assist-to-turnover ratio during that span has been 17 to 2 as Small has had to adjust how he attacks defenses with the attention he’s receiving in each game.
“Yeah, that was a big part of the plan, but he's so good. He's one of my guys that I'm really impressed with in this league, so we put a ton of time and energy in trying to study his game,” BYU coach Kevin Young said.
And while Small hasn’t been able to get shot opportunities, it has opened up more for his teammates as the Mountaineers as a team have shot 47-percent and 48-percent from the floor the past two games.
Those totals are two of the three highest that West Virginia has shot from the field in Big 12 play with the only one the road game at Cincinnati where the Mountaineers shot 49-percent being perched higher.
West Virginia shot 57-percent from the floor in the second half against BYU despite Small taking just one shot. Now, the Mountaineers need him to increase his usage, but he has to take what is available.
“We made all the right plays from that perspective of taking care of it and stuff,” DeVries said.
Even when trailing 70-69, the Mountaineers were able to get an open look from Joe Yesufu in the corner, but it did not go down. Still, it was the type of shot that DeVries wanted.
“We knew it was going to be hard to get Von free. And again, he did of good job. I think he delivered it,” DeVries said. “I’m not positive but we had Joe and JP in the two corners and told them if they help be ready to knock it down. He was ready. He just missed it.”
And with how teams are defending the Mountaineers, the impact that Small can still have is sizeable.
“He plays the game the right way and that’s kind of what we were trying to make him do. And they made us pay and it almost cost us, honestly, because everyone else was making huge plays it seemed like besides him,” Young said.
----------
• 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
