West Virginia men's basketball ended their regular season on Saturday in a place few outside the team would have expected.
The Mountaineers held off a fierce second half rally from UCF at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday evening to secure a 72-65 win over the Knights on Senior Night.
With the win, the Mountaineers not only sent their senior class off with a win, but pretty much guaranteed themselves an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. WVU also secured themselves a massive first-round bye during next week's Big 12 Conference Tournament as they look to run the table under first-year head coach Darian DeVries and capture the program's first-ever Big 12 Tournament Championship.
WVU entered halftime with a 47-25 lead but UCF closed the gap to just three points as time waned in the matchup -- the Mountaineers committed a number of critical mistakes that could have added up to a loss, but managed to get it together in the final couple minutes of action and put the final nail in the Knights' coffin.
"What I love about this group is they still stayed resilient, even when all the momentum had shifted, and found ways to make plays," DeVries told the Mountaineer Sports Network following the game. "I'm extremely proud of the guys, it's a great way to end the year."
The Mountaineers were paced per usual by senior guard Javon Small, who racked up 25 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds on Senior Night in Morgantown.
"I hope people really appreciate what they saw this year from Javon," DeVries said. "It's one of the best individual seasons I've been able to be around."