The success of the West Virginia men’s basketball program this season is one of the great stories in all of college basketball.
With an entirely different roster on the floor from a season ago, first-year head coach Darian DeVries has the Mountaineer basketball team in an excellent position to make the NCAA Tournament in March. Fans around the Big 12 know the likes of Javon Small (the Big 12’s leading scorer) and Tucker DeVries (who has been sidelined with an injury since early December) but there are other more traditional role players that WVU has gotten key contributions from. Transfers Tobi Okani, Amani Hansberry, and Eduardo Andre have made their presence felt. True freshman Jonathan Powell has proven to be a capable scorer, inserted into the starting lineup in the absence of DeVries.
With that said, one key piece for the Mountaineers who has been relatively quiet since returning from injury is sophomore big man Hansberry. Hansberry, who exited the WVU game against Mercyhurst in the first minute of play on December 22nd, has only missed one game -- that being the WVU win over Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. However, his level of contribution since returning to the court has not been what it was prior to the injury.
Three notable performances from Hansberry came in the Battle 4 Atlantis where WVU defeated Gonzaga, lost to Louisville and beat Arizona in a series of 3 overtime games spanning as many days. In the win over Gonzaga, Hansberry scored 19 points and collected 8 rebounds. In the loss to Louisville, Hansberry had 19 points and 5 rebounds. In the matchup with Arizona, Hansberry notched his first WVU double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.
In his 10 total appearances before the injury, he managed to score 10+ points in 6 different games and record 5+ rebounds in 6 different games. In his three appearances since the injury, he has yet to crack either of those numbers in a full game. Partly due to the injury and partly due the strong play of backup center Eduardo Andre, Hansberry’s minutes compared to normal have decreased over the course of the previous 3 games as well. The Mountaineers are in great need of seeing Hansberry play at full health and become a strong contributor once again.
As West Virginia continues to journey through the gauntlet that is Big 12 Conference play, getting Hansberry back to the form of play that he showed during the Battle 4 Atlantis could do wonders for this team. As a player who has proven an ability to be a strong presence on both offense and defense against high-quality competition, the WVU fans, coaching staff, and fellow players should have confidence that Hansberry can get back to producing at a high level.