For West Virginia the pathway to winning basketball games comes down to what they can control.
On the offensive end, that means that the Mountaineers want to try to score in a broken floor because that gives them the best chance to get points, but at the same time they have to be mindful.
With a rotation that has become eight players of late, that means avoiding a track meet in order to preserve guys that are playing a lot of minutes right now so finding that balance of when to push and be more deliberate on that end of the floor is critical.
That means if the opportunity isn’t there to run, West Virginia has to make sure they get quality shots on possessions in order to maximize what they can do on the offensive end.
“We still want to take advantage of those open floor opportunities as much as we can and once we get in the halfcourt be intentional with what we can get,” head coach Darian DeVries said.
Some of that is a game-by-game basis where the Mountaineers might put an emphasis on kicking it ahead and pushing it, while other times it’s a situation where they need to see what is there and get into their sets in order to utilize the players on the floor the best way possible.
When West Virginia isn’t scoring in the open court it comes down to taking care of the basketball and making sure they get good movement on that end while being unselfish.
It’s no secret that West Virginia lost some of their offensive firepower when Tucker DeVries was lost for the season which puts more on an emphasis on others picking up the slack.
Senior forward Toby Okani is one of those that has upped his level of play on offense in the past couple games showcasing the ability to get in the paint, shoot some jump hooks, shots at the rim and grab offensive rebounds. It’s something the Mountaineers need.
“So, he’s done a nice job of kind of utilizing all the things he’s capable of, and that’s been a nice little burst for us on the offensive side of it because those are the things that he’s capable of doing,” DeVries said.
The Mountaineers always try to find ways to get senior point guard Javon Small scoring opportunities but if teams are committing multiple people to him that means finding other players to score. That too can lead to good possessions on offense and allow some others to step up and fill the void.
“And hopefully that balance kind of evens itself out as we continue to move along and we’ll get, you know, find ways to get Javon free and he’ll score,” DeVries said. “I mean, he’s going to score. They’ve just done a good job these last couple of games. Like I said that balance has been good for us.”
Against BYU, West Virginia did that as DeVries felt that it was as good as the offense has played scoring almost 70 points and hitting 55-percent from the field in the second half despite the loss.
“We can’t make the ball go in the basket, you know. We can get some open opportunities and things, and sometimes, you know, we hit them, sometimes we don’t, but I know what we can control on the other end of the floor right now,” DeVries said.
On the defensive end is a different story and something that the Mountaineers have much more control over. That means remaining disciplined and solid on that end and avoiding the issues that plagued them in that loss to BYU where West Virginia struggled to keep the ball in front of them being too aggressive to limit the easy opportunities where an opponent can get to the rim or kick it out for open shots.
“We played plenty hard enough we just didn’t play with enough discipline with some things we got too aggressive at times and then they were able to get by us and get downhill and play a numbers game,” DeVries said. “We still want our guys to be aggressive and into the ball but making sure they also do a good job of keeping in front.”
DeVries believes that his team is still in great spirits overall and has been focused at playing at a high level.
Sitting at 15-9 overall, West Virginia is still approaching the big picture of a potential NCAA Tournament berth with a game-by-game basis and the message to the team has been that they’re still playing for something. Still, they have to do their part and control what they can control in the meantime.
“The thing that does matter is you’ve got to find ways to continue to get wins, and that’s our primary focus, and that’s the game-by-game mentality of, hey, our next opportunity is at Baylor, and what do we got to do to go try to win that game?” DeVries said.
