In what might have been the biggest game of the season to date for the Mountaineers, West Virginia collected a 62-59 win at home over the Cincinnati Bearcats. Head Coach Darian DeVries knew just how important this game was for his team’s NCAA Tournament aspirations.
Sure, life in the Big 12 offers plenty of 'big' games, but West Virginia entered Wednesday night’s matchup squarely on the bubble with just six regular season games remaining. In addition, the Mountaineers entered the midweek matchup with the Bearcats as losers of 6 of their previous 8 games, including a pair of close, gut-wrenching losses suffered last week.
WVU first fell to the BYU Cougars at home last week by a final score of 73-69, in a true back-and-forth game in which the Mountaineers had a lead with a minute to play. The Mountaineers followed this up with a 74-71 overtime loss on the road at Baylor on Saturday.
Given the circumstances, and that WVU’s matchup was against Cincinnati -- a team with just one Quad 1 win this season -- the game was about as 'must win' as it gets for mid-February.
West Virginia was able to fend off the Bearcats due in large part to a balanced scoring attack led by Amani Hansberry. Hansberry posted his second career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. The Big 12’s leading scorer Javon Small chipped in 16 and Jonathan Powell added 12 points.
West Virginia’s defense and rebounding were also key to the win. Jizzle James, one of the Bearcats top scorers, has not found success against the Mountaineers but has found it against seemingly everyone else in the Big 12 as of late. His last seven outings include scoring totals of 25, 25, 24, 18, 15, 13, and 0. Back on February 2nd, James was shut out by the Mountaineers on an 0-8 shooting performance in Cincinnati. At the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday night, James was held to his next lowest total in recent weeks -- just 13 points on 6-20 shooting, including going 1-of-8 from three-point territory. Major credit for that effort is due to the defensive specialists for the Mountaineers, Sencire Harris and Toby Okani.
The Road Ahead
With the big win, the Mountaineers now sit at 16-10 overall and 7-8 in league play. With five games to go before the Big 12 Conference Tournament comes to Kansas City, there is still work to do for a West Virginia team looking to bolster its tournament resume.
Next up will be a tough test on the road against No. 9Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon. The Red Raiders are coming off of a loss to TCU.