The West Virginia basketball roster has certainly undergone some changes.
The Mountaineers are currently down to eight scholarship players with the possibility of that total growing to nine if senior guard Jose Perez elects to remove his name from the transfer portal.
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West Virginia just wrapped up a difficult road loss to No. 10 Houston, but there won’t be much time to rest up.
That’s because No. 2 Iowa State is set to travel to Morgantown for another Big 12 Conference matchup.
Head Coach Darian DeVries saw a lot to be proud of with the way that his team showed the will to battle back multiple times in a tough environment at Houston.
“It would have been easy to just fold in that second half and they didn’t do that. They swung all the way till the end and kept fighting,” he said.
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But it’s not going to be any easier against a 15-1 Cyclones team that is fresh off a 74-57 win over Kansas.
“Iowa State’s an elite level team. A championship-level team. You know that’s what this league is right? You get to play and get these opportunities every night,” DeVries said.
The focus will be to try to learn from the things that didn’t go well against the Cougars and while it’s a different matchup against Iowa State, they also pride themselves on a physical brand of basketball.
The focus will be to get some rest and get the game plan ready on Friday before holding a practice in preparation for the game.
The difference this time is that West Virginia will have this game at home and that is something that everybody on the roster is looking forward to considering it is expected to be a sold-out home environment.
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“Then Saturday we’re in Morgantown and now we got a full house. So, I know our guys will be excited. I know our fans are excited, sold out. So can’t wait for that atmosphere,” DeVries said. “And that’s something you’ve got to protect your home court, and our guys understand that. So, it’ll be a big opportunity for us.”
West Virginia hung tough for large stretches of Wednesday’s clash against 10th-ranked Houston at Fertitta Center.
Ultimately, the Cougars’ offensive efficiency and ability to generate stops — particularly in the latter stages of the contest — ruled out in helping the home team claim a 70-54 victory.
“It seemed like every mistake we made defensively, they burned us on them,” first-year WVU head coach Darian DeVries said. “That was a credit to them. They’re a really good team with really good players. We got it down there several times and weren’t able to get us that next big play to get us back to even.”
The Mountaineers (12-4, 3-2) got off to a solid start thanks in large part to Javon Small’s trio of three-pointers within a span of four possessions. The last one gave WVU a 15-12 lead, and the advantage grew to 18-13 moments later when freshman Jonathan Powell made a challenged triple.
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But Houston (13-3, 5-0) countered with 11 unanswered points, tying the game at 18 on an L.J. Cryer triple and going in front for good when Emanuel Sharp connected from long range.
J’Wan Roberts gave the Mountaineers problems in and around the paint throughout the night, and his short jumper 6:10 before halftime made it a double-digit margin for the first time as the Cougars led, 31-21.
WVU’s deficit was 36-27 following a Sencire Harris bucket, but Roberts accounted for the final four points of the half to send Houston to the intermission with a 13-point advantage.
“We came into the game playing 1-on-1 on the interior and he made us pay for that,” DeVries said. “We doubled a couple times and he made us pay for that, too. He’s a really good player and he puts you in some tough positions and surrounded with really good pieces on top of that. We were hanging around and had a really good rhythm to the game. Those costly turnovers were a big key.”
Toby Okani and Powell opened the second half with threes on WVU’s first two possessions, and when Harris converted a fast break opportunity on the next one, the Mountaineers were to within five at 40-35.
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Although Houston built its advantage back up to 49-36, West Virginia got three threes and 12 points from Amani Hansberry over a matter of 2:38 to pull to within 51-48.
Houston countered with 14 unanswered points to put the game out of reach, starting with a Ja’Vier Francis dunk and later getting a conventional three-point play from Milos Uzan and a Terrance Arceneaux three.
Hansberry accounted for six of WVU’s nine second-half field goals, and nobody else on the Mountaineers made a basket over the final 18 minutes.
“Javon got off to a great start and in the second half, we weren’t able to get him loose quite as much. A couple times, maybe he came off some staggers and things that he had a little bit of a look, but they close so quickly that we couldn’t get him free as much,” DeVries said. “We were able to get Amani a little separated because they were putting two to the ball and Javon. We got some looks there that he was able to knock down to get us back in that game.”
Houston shot 25 for 51 and 11 of 26 on threes.
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The Cougars scored 25 points off WVU 12 turnovers, while the Mountaineers managed nine points off seven Cougar turnovers.
“They did a great job capitalizing on our turnovers,” DeVries said. “We didn’t have a lot of them. Twelve is a higher number than we’d like, and the ones we did turnover were a lot of live ball turnovers that they were able to get down in transition. We made some mistakes on some ball screens and went under a few and gave some pretty clean looks there and they capitalized on them and really made us pay.”
Roberts made 10-of-13 shots and led all players with 22 points. Cryer added five of his team’s 11 threes and scored 18, while Sharp added 14.
Hansberry led WVU with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Small scored 13 to go with a game-high eight assists.
Houston has yet to allow more than 57 points in a Big 12 game this season.
West Virginia’s Democratic Party wants the state Supreme Court to weigh in over a House of Delegates move to vacate a seat won by a Berkeley County man who is now confined at his home on charges that he threatened people who would have been his legislative colleagues.
The filing by Democrats contends the House of Delegates acted inconsistently by vacating the seat won by Joseph de Soto since he was among seven elected delegates who were not present to take the oath of office on an organizational day last week — but he was the only one knocked out in perpetuity.
De Soto was elected as a Republican but changed his political affiliation to Democrat the day before he was arrested. Democrats say West Virginia precedent means a Democrat should be named to fill the seat.
Mike Pushkin
“This is not just about one seat,” said Mike Pushkin, chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party. “This is about defending the rule of law and ensuring that the people of District 91 have their rightful representation in the House of Delegates. The actions taken by the House of Delegates undermine the integrity of our democratic process.”
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The writ of mandamus filed with the West Virginia Supreme Court names House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, and Gov. Patrick Morrisey, each in their official capacity.
Debate broke out on the House floor a week ago, Jan. 8, over whether the proper, constitutional procedure was being followed as the seat won by de Soto was vacated.
mugshot of Joseph Desoto
De Soto was arrested in December and charged with making threats of terrorist acts, referring to statements he is accused of making to several delegates. He is listed as a pre-trial felon.
Because de Soto was not present with most other delegates to take the oath of office last week, he was not seated.
Members of the House of Delegates then went a step farther by introducing a resolution to declare the seat vacant. Conceivably, that would allow a new representative to be selected prior to the start of the 60-day regular session on Feb. 12.
The vacancy was declared on the grounds of Article XI, Section 16 of the West Virginia Constitution. A key portion of that section says: “Any member who shall refuse to take the oath herein prescribed, shall forfeit his seat.”
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Debate among some delegates then focused on whether de Soto’s failure to take the oath of office because of the arrest and home confinement constitutes refusal to do so.
That’s a point that the Democratic Party has asked the state Supreme Court to resolve.
A question being directed to the justices is “Whether the House of Delegates can declare vacant the seat of a duly elected, qualified, and ready-to-serve delegate for reasons related to misconduct.”
Another question has focused on the party of the delegate to be appointed to replace de Soto. The final line of the resolution designates the Republican Executive Committee of Berkeley County to begin action on the vacancy.
The rational of the Republican supermajority in the House is that because de Soto was never officially seated, the fact that he had registered as a Democrat weeks prior to this would have no bearing on the situation.
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The Democrats are seeking clarity from the Supreme Court.
They are asking justices if a person holding the office immediately preceding a declared vacancy in a House of Delegate seat would include a person who was duly elected, assumed office on Dec. 1 following the election, as provided in West Virginia state code, but who had not yet taken the oath of office.
The Berkeley County Democratic Executive Committee says it has gone ahead and submitted this list of qualified nominees for Governor Morrisey’s consideration:
David Michaels – Hedgesville, WV
Stephen Willingham – Hedgesville, WV
Timothy Lee – Inwood, WV
“It’s imperative that the law and the constitution be followed in this matter,” said Tammy Offutt, chair of the Berkeley County Democratic Executive Committee.
“We expect the Governor to respect the clear requirements of West Virginia law by appointing one of the three above-named individuals to fill the 91st Delegate District seat.”
Matt Herridge
State Republican Party Chairman Matthew Herridge responded by saying, “The West Virginia Republican Party is concluding its legislative vacancy nomination process for the 91st District this week, and that will be submitted to Governor Morrisey for his appointment.”
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