Virginia team compliments West Virginia atmosphere, style
The West Virginia game against Virginia proved a lot of people wrong. The Mountaineers got the win and looked impressive in the process.
There were some West Virginia fans who counted the team out after falling to Texas A&M in the first game of the season. That blowout loss certainly didn’t look good but there was no reason to lose hope that this could still be a successful season.
There may not have been anyone in the country who believes in the Mountaineers as much as Virginia head coach Tony Bennett. He knew his Cavaliers were in for a tough match up in Morgantown and he and his players came away impressed with West Virginia.
After the game both Bennet and standout Devon Hall gushed about the atmosphere in the WVU Coliseum and the style of play from the Mountaineers. Press Virginia didn’t get the turnovers it normally does, but West Virginia made things difficult on the Cavaliers all night and took them out of their rhythm in the second half.
It was frustrating at times for the Cavaliers but that doesn’t mean they wanted to back out of the challenge at hand. The Mountaineers elevated their game and UVA tried to dig down deep to match it. In the postgame press conference, Hall told the Daily Progress his team will learn from the game against West Virginia. There were a lot of points to work on for the Cavaliers’ next contest.
"“We learn from this,” Hall said. “We go back, look at film and learn from the mistakes we made. This is a test that we needed and we were ready for a test this early against a good team. It’s a tough atmosphere, loud. Because they press, it makes it even more intense. I love playing against good, tough guys like those dudes. They bring it every single time, put their backs against the wall and go out and play.”"
That all should be music to the ears of West Virginia fans. For every person that was down on this team, hearing another team’s star player talk so highly of the Mountaineers should show how lucky WVU fans are to have this aggressive team.
West Virginia could win the Big 12 title this season and have a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. It was wins like the one against UVA that can propel a team and give the confidence needed to have a great year.
Next: All-time WVU basketball team
With a coach like Bob Huggins and senior leaders like Daxter Miles and Jevon Carter, fans should know that this team will play hard at all times this season.