Head coach Darian DeVries and West Virginia are slated to face their toughest test to date when they open the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament against No. 3 Gonzaga on Wednesday.
"Great opponent, off to a terrific start," DeVries said of the Bulldogs. "They’re elite at a lot of different things, so, very good team, very balanced team. Tremendous challenge to try to slow them down, as people have seen as they’ve gotten off to a great start with this early season. Again, I think they’re certainly deserving of their early season accolades and rankings."
Gonzaga sits at 5-0 with two wins over Big 12 competition. They beat Baylor 101-63 and Arizona State 88-80.
Through five games, Gonzaga has five players averaging 11.2 points or more per game. They also rank first in the country in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 125.7 points per 100 offensive possessions.
"They are incredibly fast, and we certainly haven’t played anybody with this type of speed. They’re very good in transition, they’re elite at it, they play to it every single game. That’s a huge challenge with how do you try to slow them down. I think the biggest thing is making sure you have to take care of the basketball number one, and making sure you get good shot selection so you’re not playing in transition all the time," DeVries said.
Part of the reason why Gonzaga can play with such pace is because of their guard play. Khalif Battle, along with Ryan Nembhard, pose lots of challenges for opposing defenses with their ability to be versatile on the floor. Battle is averaging 14.4 points per game, along with 4.4 rebounds per game, while Nembhard is averaging 12.2 points per game, along with 9.4 assists per game.
"I think that’s what makes their team so challenging to try to defend. They have a great interior presence, and then they also have great skill and great efficiency out on the perimeter. They share the ball well, they move the ball well, so they can really try to take advantage of you in multiple different ways, whether it be on the interior or shooting three’s," DeVries said.
The Bulldogs rank 137th in the country in three-pointers attempted per game, but they are top-50 in the country in effective field goal percentage, a statistic that gives more value to the three-point shot.
For DeVries, this relates to what he sees in the Bulldogs as far as their ability to score from either the perimeter or the paint on offense.
"They just have great balance overall. Their whole team they play well together, they play within their system, and they get great shots because of it. I think they’re very unselfish and move the ball and share it. Again, I just like their overall balance and the way they play together," DeVries said.
If West Virginia is going to pull off the upset, DeVries said his team is going to have to be sound and take care of the ball. WVU is 180th in the country, averaging 12.3 turnovers per game, while Gonzaga ranks first in turnovers per game with 8.0.
"It’s more about from our side of things, as we present it, taking care of the basketball. If you can take care of the basketball, making sure you’re getting good shot selection, and then defensively making sure we’re being aggressive and playing to what our identity is," DeVries said.
DeVries also noted how his team is not going to back away from Gonzaga just because of their high ranking. He said he expects his team to approach this game just like they would any other game.
"Our mindset is pretty much the same every night. We want to put the best version of ourselves out there no matter who we’re playing, and that’s what we’ll try to do every single game this entire season. Again, our focus is on every night, here’s our opponent, what gives us the best chance to try to win this game and prepare for that," DeVries said.
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