West Virginia was able to snap their three-game losing streak as they went into Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon and knocked off the struggling Bearcats in a 63-50 victory. West Virginia needed this win, as their recent struggles have led to their drifting toward the NCAA Tournament bubble according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and other experts. West Virginia now sits at 14-7 overall and 5-5 in conference play with the victory.
How The Mountaineers Shifted The Narrative
West Virginia was able to take a 40-25 lead into halftime due in large part to two key factors. Firstly, they knocked down 6 of their 11 3-point attempts in the first half. Javon Small made three of those baskets, while both of Joseph Yesufu’s first-half field goal attempts were successful makes from beyond the arc. Freshman Jonathan Powell also made a three-point basket in the first half.
Secondly, West Virginia forced 9 first-half turnovers from the Bearcats, 8 of which were steals for the Mountaineers. Sophomore Sencire Harris collected 3 steals through the first 20 minutes of play by himself.
The first half was a refreshing start to the game for a WVU team that has gotten behind big early in games throughout their previous 3 losses. West Virginia scored 40 in the first half of play on Sunday afternoon after scoring just 49 the entire game in their matchup earlier this week with Houston.
The second half was much of the same story for West Virginia. West Virginia’s biggest lead was 22 and they ended up winning the game by 13. Small and Yesufu continued to carry the load offensively while Sencire Harris made his presence felt on the defensive end. Head coach Darian DeVries seemed most impressed following the game with how his team used their stout defensive effort to create offensive opportunities, noting that his team is "at it's best" when playing that style
"I thought defensively the guys came out with a good focus," DeVries said. "Defensively we were really active...it allowed out offense to get going."
Small paced the Mountaineers with a 19 point, 9 assist performance from Small. The performance that WVU was able to get from Joseph Yesufu was perhaps the most notable though -- Yesufu continued to find success from beyond the arc in the second half as he knocked down 2 more threes. He finished the game with 16 points on 6-6 shooting from the field.
Despite not scoring in the game, Sencire Harris had a major impact with 4 steals and 1 blocked shot. Harris was seemingly everywhere on the defensive end on Sunday afternoon and if he wasn’t getting steals he was able to get deflections and contest shots, making things difficult for the Bearcats.
Injury Concern
Late in the second half Toby Okani went down with an ankle injury and did not return. With Tucker DeVries remaining sidelined, the Mountaineers simply cannot afford to lose Okani, who has been a staple in the starting lineup this season. No updates have come on Okani as of the writing of this story.