As an injury-riddled West Virginia men’s basketball team exploded onto the Big 12 scene with a Top 10 upset against No. 7 Kansas and a dominant 19-point victory over Oklahoma State this past week, it was necessary for just about every player on the roster that was capable of playing to step into a role and step up in one way or another to secure those victories.
The WVU roster has only gone 11-deep at its healthiest this season, with two of those players seeing less than 6 minutes per game. One of those 9 playing more than 6 minutes per game is second-leading scorer Tucker DeVries, who has missed the previous five games. The Mountaineers were also without starting center Amani Hansberry during the Kansas win.
But two players who have stepped up in a big way during this tough stretch have been the team’s pair of true freshmen seeing significant playing time that have had to carve out roles on an undersized, undermanned roster -- guards Jonathan Powell and KJ Tenner.
Jonathan Powell picks up extra minutes and packs a punch from behind-the-arc
Powell was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2024 but was the Division I Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year in 2023-24 as a senior, and he’s shown why he was considered such a star at the previous level.
Powell has been big all season for WVU, providing a deep-threat and an alternative scoring option -- he leads the team with 32 three-point buckets in total and averages 25.3 minutes per game and 9.3 points per game.
“From the moment he walked on campus, he’s pretty confident. He doesn’t have a mental block from shooting threes right now -- if anything I think he’s growing in confidence every single day,” WVU Head Coach Darian DeVries said following the Oklahoma State game.
However, he has shined even brighter in Big 12 play, featuring in the starting lineup in both games and averaging 31 minutes against Kansas and 34 minutes against Oklahoma State.
He is 8-of-15 from three-point range in those two games, including notching a career best 5 three-pointers on just 7 attempts against the Cowboys. He chipped in 11 points in the Kansas win and was the second-leading scorer for WVU with 17 points against Oklahoma State.
“What he’s done a really good job of is he’s learned to slow himself down, which is true of a lot of freshmen, I think,” DeVries said. “Even when he was making some earlier this year…he was just a little rushed. He was trying to hit five threes on one shot. Now he’s done a much better job these past couple weeks.”
“Mainly with me, it's just confidence,” Powell added. “I mean, with Coach DeVrries and my teammates, it just developed during the summer through scrimmages and little other games we had coming up and it just grows every game. They all trust and believe in me, and that’s what really plays a part in that is my confidence.”
KJ Tenner continues his sneakily good play against Kansas
Tenner received no power conference attention before he signed with West Virginia -- he earned a number of low-major and mid-major offers and originally committed to current WVU head coach Darian DeVries at Drake before following DeVries to Morgantown. Listed at just 6’0 and 166 pounds on the WVU roster -- which is generous compared to his listings on recruiting sites over the summer -- Tenner is undersized and under-experienced for the level he’s being forced to play in so early in his career. Most players in his shoes would have been eager for a redshirt season, but WVU didn’t have the luxury with Tenner.
But Tenner has been sneakily good this season -- filling in as a reserve and making appearances in all 13 contests, he has averaged 14.2 minutes per game and 3.8 points per game. But Tenner has really shined in the stat categories that are less-often looked at -- he has tallied 21 assists (fourth-best on the team) and 9 steals (fifth-best on the team) while committing just 5 turnovers (third-best on team, first-best among players averaging over more than 6 minutes per game).
Tenner played just 12 minutes against Oklahoma State but saw more playing time than normal against Kansas, earning 19 minutes of action. He converted his only 2 points on a crucial bucket late in the game to extend a dwindling WVU lead that Kansas almost overcame, and also quietly tallied 4 assists and 2 rebounds during the game while committing no turnovers.