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Let's put a brutal January behind us and pick up a badly needed win at home versus a competitive WVU squad.
Last year, UC finished 39 in Ken Pom and WVU 144. WVU currently sits at 48 and UC 57.
Darian DeVries came over to WVU after a successful 6-year run at Drake and had the Mountaineers playing great before a recent skid. WVU is 13-7 and 4-5 in the Big 12, having lost 3-straight and 4/5 after a 3-1 start. WVU picked up non-conference wins over Gonzaga and Arizona (not a conference game in The Bahamas) and entered Big 12 play 9-2.
WVU has four Big 12 wins, including a surprising 1-point win at Kansas on December 31 and a more recent 7-point win over then #2 Iowa State. After the ISU upset, the Mountaineers have lost by 8 to Arizona State, by 13 at Kansas State, and just lost by 14 to #6 Houston on Wednesday despite. Houston held WVU to 49 points, but worth noting they also recently held Utah to 36 and then two games later the Utes caught fire versus UC.
Top Mountaineers:
- Javon Small, 6'3 guard - 19.1 points, 4.9 rebounds. 5.0 assists, 1.8 steals (lit up UC for 23 two years ago at ECU, had 19 for Oklahoma State last year)
- Amani Hansberry, 6'8 240 lb. forward - 9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds (breakout year after a quiet freshman season at Illinois)
- Jonathan Powell, 6'6 guard from Centerville HS - 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds
- Toby Okani, 6'8 guard - 8.2 points, 4.1 rebounds (fifth-year senior who had 20/11 in the season opener last year between UC and UIC)
- Sencire Harris, 6'4 guard - 6.0 points, 4.5 rebounds (also came over from Illinois)
WVU has an interesting staff
- Chester Frazier, associate head coach (former Illinois standout who came over to WVU from Illinois staff -- see Hansberry, Harris above)
- Tom Ostrom, longtime Archie Miller assistant (Dayton/IU) who came over from Drake
- Kory Barnett, longtime Steve Alford assistant/staffer at UCLA/Nevada who was a walk-on at IU during the Crean days
- Two other assistants from DeVries' old staff at Drake
I'll leave the advanced stats to sedz but WVU is a slightly better 3-point shooting team (32.7% to 31.7), a significantly better FT shooting team, and slightly lower scoring / shooting / rebounding team. Seems like a tough team but very winnable.
Last year, UC finished 39 in Ken Pom and WVU 144. WVU currently sits at 48 and UC 57.
Darian DeVries came over to WVU after a successful 6-year run at Drake and had the Mountaineers playing great before a recent skid. WVU is 13-7 and 4-5 in the Big 12, having lost 3-straight and 4/5 after a 3-1 start. WVU picked up non-conference wins over Gonzaga and Arizona (not a conference game in The Bahamas) and entered Big 12 play 9-2.
WVU has four Big 12 wins, including a surprising 1-point win at Kansas on December 31 and a more recent 7-point win over then #2 Iowa State. After the ISU upset, the Mountaineers have lost by 8 to Arizona State, by 13 at Kansas State, and just lost by 14 to #6 Houston on Wednesday despite. Houston held WVU to 49 points, but worth noting they also recently held Utah to 36 and then two games later the Utes caught fire versus UC.
Top Mountaineers:
- Javon Small, 6'3 guard - 19.1 points, 4.9 rebounds. 5.0 assists, 1.8 steals (lit up UC for 23 two years ago at ECU, had 19 for Oklahoma State last year)
- Amani Hansberry, 6'8 240 lb. forward - 9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds (breakout year after a quiet freshman season at Illinois)
- Jonathan Powell, 6'6 guard from Centerville HS - 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds
- Toby Okani, 6'8 guard - 8.2 points, 4.1 rebounds (fifth-year senior who had 20/11 in the season opener last year between UC and UIC)
- Sencire Harris, 6'4 guard - 6.0 points, 4.5 rebounds (also came over from Illinois)
WVU has an interesting staff
- Chester Frazier, associate head coach (former Illinois standout who came over to WVU from Illinois staff -- see Hansberry, Harris above)
- Tom Ostrom, longtime Archie Miller assistant (Dayton/IU) who came over from Drake
- Kory Barnett, longtime Steve Alford assistant/staffer at UCLA/Nevada who was a walk-on at IU during the Crean days
- Two other assistants from DeVries' old staff at Drake
I'll leave the advanced stats to sedz but WVU is a slightly better 3-point shooting team (32.7% to 31.7), a significantly better FT shooting team, and slightly lower scoring / shooting / rebounding team. Seems like a tough team but very winnable.
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