Senior guard Javon Small has been so consistently good this season that it’s almost easy to not fully appreciate what he’s doing on the floor.
Small has made the special, ordinary this season in his first year with the Mountaineers, and the latest example of that came in the win over No. 2 Iowa State. Small finished with 27 points on 9-16 from the field with 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals to help engineer the upset.
And that’s against an Iowa State team that features a tough challenge with their perimeter defense.
“He’s been just incredible all year. I think he’s the best guard in the country right now. For what we’re asking him to do and the way he put the team on his back there late,” he said.
Small is the primary focus of every opponent that West Virginia has gone against since Tucker DeVries went down with an upper-body injury eight games into the season and he continues to deliver. He continues to play a ton of minutes in the process and has still been able to make plays despite all of the attention that he has received from the opposition.
Against Iowa State, Small took over down the stretch scoring 12 of the final 13 points and doing it in a variety of ways by either hitting a key three-pointer or getting to the rim or the foul line.
Speaking to his mindset, Small wasn’t even aware that he reeled off that feat.
“Since day one I’ve always tried to do what I can for my team to win and if it takes me to score 12 of the last 13 points that’s what I’m going to do,” Small said.
That wasn’t a directive from the coaching staff, Small just got into a zone and took the game over. It’s something DeVries has seen Small do in practice and when he gets there it’s tough to stop him.
“He’s certainly special and I hope people certainly enjoy the time they get to watch him here,” he said.
But the most impressive thing about Small is the fact that the only thing that matters to him is getting the win. Even though he’s stuffing the stat sheet, he doesn’t care about anything but how he can help his team accomplish the goal of winning basketball games.
“All I’m thinking about is just winning,” he said.
With his numbers, Small has positioned himself in the race for Big 12 Player of the Year considering that he’s averaging 19.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists and playing over 36 minutes per game. But he’s focused on what matters the most to him and his teammates.
“What I love about him is he doesn’t care about winning that award. He wants to win and that’s all he talks about. That’s all he talks about with his teammates is being better in areas we need to win. He’s never come into a timeout asking for the ball not one time,” DeVries said.
And if he continues to play like this, Small could not only continue to lead his team to wins but might just receive some recognition for his efforts as well.
“I don’t ever think about it. The only thing I’m worried about is winning at the end of the day. You can only win Big 12 Player of the Year if you win,” Small said.
