MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As West Virginia tries to battle through its longest and lone losing streak this season, first-year head coach Darian DeVries has made it known desired results can’t become a reality until the Mountaineers display defensive improvement.

“When we’re good, it’s our defense,” DeVries said. “We’ve talked about shooting and all that stuff. It just doesn’t matter. When we guard, that’s where our group has a chance to be special and can do some really good things against good teams.”

Yet as WVU has allowed its last three opponents to shoot a combined 47.8 percent, the Mountaineers have lacked offense in losses to Arizona State, Kansas State and most recently Houston, when DeVries’ team was held to a season-low 49 points and matched the program’s lowest point total since February 2020 loss to Kansas. 

Slow starts and poor perimeter shooting have plagued the Mountaineers (13-7, 4-5), as they were held to 19 points over the first 20 minutes in Wednesday’s 14-point setback to the Cougars. 

It marked the third straight game the Mountaineers went to halftime with 23 or fewer points, and over that stretch, they have made 23-of-80 field-goal attempts in the first half, including 6-of-34 three-pointers.

“That’s completely on the players,” WVU swingman Toby Okani said. “Our coaches do everything they need to do to get us prepared for every game plan and they have terrific scouts. We have to want it more. We haven’t arrived and we know that. We have to play with more confidence on the defensive end.”

West Virginia shot a plenty respectable 20 for 43 against the nation’s top defensive team Wednesday, but the Mountaineers hardly attempted more than a shot per minute after finishing with 12 turnovers and being out-rebounded 34-19, including 13-5 on the offensive end.

“They play at a very slow tempo and we’re their cousin,” Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We’re right there with them. It isn’t like we’re the ’90 Vegas team now.”

The Mountaineers have failed to surpass 60 points and are shooting 37.3 percent (63 for 169) during the ongoing skid. That percentage has been significantly hampered by an inability to hit from the perimeter, with the Mountaineers a dismal 12 for 68 on three-pointers since knocking off then-No. 2 Iowa State back on January 18.

Javon Small and Jonathan Powell made two triples apiece Wednesday to comprise all of WVU’s production from behind the arc as the Mountaineers finished 4 for 18. That duo has accounted for 92 of the team’s 177 treys this season, but both are 5 for 19 on triples during the losing streak.

Amani Hansberry, third on the squad among available players with 22 threes, has made 1-of-14 three-point attempts starting with the loss to the Sun Devils.

“I guess we could try punting them in. JP’s had a rough week, but he’s a really good shooter, so he has to continue to shoot,” DeVries said. “His percentages are going to equal out by the end of the year. Unfortunately, he’s going through a little bit of a shooting slump. 

“Amani [Hansberry] hasn’t shot it well. [Wednesday] we tried to put more of an emphasis on getting downhill and getting to the rim, but your shooters have to shoot them when they’re open. Otherwise, you’re just going to be driving into people that are waiting for you with three guys at the rim. JP had some great looks. I want him to take all eight of those again. Hopefully, on Sunday it’s a 5 for 8, because it will be at some point. This week has been really tough shooting the ball.”

Small, WVU’s leader in a number of statistical categories and the Big 12’s top scorer with an average of 19.1 points, continues to receive about as much attention as he possibly can from opponents.

Wednesday marked the first time in a West Virginia uniform that Small failed to reach double-figure scoring as he was limited to eight points on 3-for-7 shooting. 

While Small scored 22 points in the loss to the Wildcats, he was held in check the previous game and scored 10 of his 14 points on free throws, while shooting 2 for 11 against the Sun Devils.

Regularly being double teamed when he possesses the ball and brings it into the front court, Small is also playing off the ball some as the Mountaineers ask Sencire Harris, Joseph Yesufu and KJ Tenner to fill the role of point guard. That’s in an effort to try and free the 6-foot-3 Small.

“As a staff, offensively, we’re searching to find more ways to get people involved,” DeVries said. “We don’t have a low post threat that you can just throw it into every time. We were able to with Amani [Wednesday] off of mismatches, but night in, night out, that’s probably not to our advantage. We have to find different ways to get Toby posted. Maybe it’s Amani off a switch. Find more driving opportunities, so we can get downhill and get more of those kick out threes. 

“Otherwise, you end up playing a lot of windshield wiper offense and it’s hard to score when you get that way. Javon was so good for such a long period of time. We rode that as long as we could, but it’s gotten more difficult as we get deeper into league play and people start to copycat how to defend certain players on your roster. They’re certainly doing that with Javon. He’s getting doubled and he’s getting it out of there. We have to do a better job of being more efficient on the back end of that.”