Mountaineers welcome Georgetown wanting to show they can handle success – WV MetroNews

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Darian DeVries has been left impressed with West Virginia’s response to its first two losses  in the head coach’s first season with the Mountaineers.

Come 7 p.m. Friday, DeVries may get his best indication yet of just how his team handles success, with the Mountaineers welcoming Georgetown for a game that will air on ESPN2 as part of the Big 12-Big East Challenge.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond after having a good week,” DeVries said. “Like I told the guys, we have not arrived. This is not the end game. Our goal is to continue to improve and get better and to maximize what this group is capable of. We still have plenty that we need to grow into and continue to get better. 

“I like their mindset. They’ve come back as they have all year with a very positive outlook toward practice and their approach to it and they continue to want to be coached and get better. That’s great and hopefully it means something on Friday.”

WVU (5-2) won its first two games before suffering its only lopsided loss to this point — an 86-62 defeat at Pitt. The Mountaineers then doubled up Iona 86-43 for their third victory, before setting off to The Bahamas for three games in three days.

The Mountaineers finished 2-1 in the Battle 4 Atlantis, scoring overtime wins over nationally-ranked Gonzaga and Arizona, while falling short in their second game of the event against Louisville in the extra session.

With a week between the win over the Wildcats and welcoming the Hoyas, DeVries felt it was important for the Mountaineers to rest a few days after returning to Morgantown. The team traveled back Saturday and was off Sunday and Tuesday with a practice in between.

“We needed to get our legs back a little bit. It was not just three games. It was three and change,” DeVries said. “The guys feel good and they feel back refreshed and ready to go. Excited to be back at home again and we have another good opponent coming in here, so looking forward to that.”

Now comes the next challenge, and West Virginia’s last non-league opponent from a major conference. Like WVU, Georgetown (7-1) is coming off a nine-win campaign in what marks Ed Cooley’s second season as head coach of the Hoyas.

Cooley has previously coached against the Mountaineers once, when his Providence team was upended by WVU in February 2012 — Cooley’s first of 12 seasons as Friars’ head coach.

The Hoyas were 9-23 overall and 2-18 in Big East play last season, but enter Friday’s contest winners of five straight. Georgetown was soundly beaten by the top opponent it’s faced thus far, falling 84-63 to Notre Dame back on November 16. The Hoyas’ seven victories are against Lehigh, Fairfield, Mount St. Mary’s, St. Francis (Pa.), Wagner, Albany and most recently UMBC on Monday by an average of 20.8 points. A season-opening 85-77 victory against Lehigh is the lone contest the Hoyas have played with a single-digit margin.

“This will be the first time we get a really full crowd and get to see what the Coliseum has to bring,” DeVries said. “We’re excited about that. It is a big game for us. Georgetown is playing really well and has a good record. They’re doing some good things. It’s a great game for our fan base and a great challenge for us as well.”

Four Georgetown players are averaging double-figure scoring, led by 6-foot-10 freshman Thomas Sorber’s mark of 15.8 points. Sorber has made 45-of-74 field-goal attempts to shoot better than 60 percent, while his average of 8.9 rebounds and 14 blocks both lead the squad by a significant margin.

Swingman Micah Peavy, a TCU transfer, and guards Jayden Epps and Malik Mack follow with scoring averages of 14.8, 13.9 and 13, respectively.

“They’re very good scorers and very aggressive,” DeVries said. “You have three of them out there with an inside presence [Sorber]. That certainly creates challenges for your defense. They can get a bucket on their own or in the framework of the sets they run. They run a ton of sets. There’s a lot of different ways they try to get going.”

Among Georgetown’s top four scorers, only Epps was with the Hoyas last season.

Although Cooley’s team is averaging almost 79 points, the Hoyas have struggled shooting from the perimeter, making only 53-of-185 three-pointers for 28.6 percent long range shooting.

Perimeter shooting has been a strong point for West Virginia, which has made 75-of-212 triples for a percentage just north of 35. 

The Mountaineers’ top two scorers — Tucker DeVries and Javon Small — have accounted for 42 triples, and to no surprise, are the team’s two leading scorers. Small’s 19-point average is tops on the squad, while DeVries is at 14.9 and enters off his WVU-high 26 points with eight threes against Arizona.

“There are times throughout the season and maybe it’s kind of a two-to-three week stretch it feels really good and natural, and maybe there’s other stretches where it feels a little uncomfortable,” Tucker DeVries said. “That’s kind of basketball in general. Everybody goes through some slumps and some really good points, but before the game, it’s hard to tell how the game is going to play out. That one just happened to play out that way.”

Amani Hansberry gives WVU a third double-figure scorer with an average of 12.6. Of equal, if not more importance, is Hansberry’s team-best rebounding mark of 7.6.

At 6-7, Hansberry is being asked to play out of position as he is the team’s starting center, though his ability to shoot from the perimeter has proven advantageous and given the Mountaineers favorable matchups of their own.

Hansberry has also proven he can hold his own defensively and often gets help from teammates to try and make matters uncomfortable in the post for the opposition.

That will again come into play against Sorber.

“I don’t think they’re going to not throw it inside. They have a really good post presence,” coach DeVries said. “We’re going to see it all year. We have to continue to get better at it. There are things we can improve on there. The biggest thing was Amani learning to play better in the post without fouling. He’s done a good job of that for the most part.”

Friday’s matchup marks the 54th meeting between WVU and Georgetown. The Hoyas hold a 27-26 series lead.