If you weren’t sure about Darian DeVries’ coaching ability after the Bahamas tournament run, you should be there now. DeVries pulled off an accomplishment no other WVU coach has: he beat Kansas at Phog Allen Field House. WVU has had some good teams travel to Kansas, but they always came back with a loss (and usually a ridiculously lopsided free throw margin for the Jayhawks).
This year, it looked like it would be a tough Big 12 opener for the Mountaineers. First, their plane was delayed with mechanical issues. Then they were without two of their best players so far: Tucker DeVries (still out with his upper body injury), and Amani Hansberry (who hurt his ankle during the previous game and was in a walking boot). And Kansas did get their share of favorable ref calls and had a large free throw advantage yet again. BUT… West Virginia jumped out to an early lead, and never trailed. Kansas staged a comeback in the second half, and managed to tie up the game with under 20 seconds to go. At this point many Mountaineer fans were braced for yet another heartbreaking loss at Kansas, but this time, WVU made a key free throw late, and held on for a 62-61 win.
They followed that up with a dominating 69-50 win over Oklahoma State in Morgantown. They led by an amazing 46-19 margin at the half, and cruised through the second half for the relatively easy win.
Things will be a lot tougher from here. For one, WVU is now a known quantity – teams will take WVU very seriously and are unlikely to look past the Mountaineers. Also, there are a lot of good teams in the Big 12. WVU hosted Arizona last night, who will want to avenge their overtime loss to WVU in the Bahamas (they are also playing better now than they were back then). Then they have to travel to Colorado to face a good Buffalo team, and deal with the altitude in Boulder. Then they have a pair of top 10 opponents: at Houston and hosting Iowa State. The Mountaineers are extremely unlikely to get through those four games undefeated, but solid performances in those games (and if they split them 2-2) will be a very good sign.
I mentioned the altitude at Colorado for a reason, because it seemed to affect the women’s team. They lost their first conference game of the season at Colorado. They led pretty comfortably at half time, but saw some of that lead slip away in the third quarter, and then fell apart in the fourth quarter. They did bounce back with a blowout win over UCF in their conference home opener and a double digit win over BYU, and remain solidly in the top 20 rankings.
The football team is filling out their coaching staff. Overall, the hires seem pretty good on paper. Two coaches: Blaine Stewart (who will be a receivers coach), and Chad Scott (running backs) are staying on from Neal Brown’s staff. Perhaps the most important hire is the defensive coordinator, and WVU managed to pry Zac Alley away from Oklahoma, where he was co-Defensive Coordinator. He is young but experienced, and did overlap with Rich Rodriguez at Jacksonville State. He believes in forcing turnovers and bringing pressure, which is something WVU has had issues with recently.
Notes: The upcoming men’s basketball schedule: this Sunday (Jan 12) at Colorado, 3:00pm on ESPN Plus, at Houston on Wednesday Jan 15, 8:00pm on ESPN Plus…Home against Iowa State next Saturday (Jan 18) at 5:00pm on ESPN Plus, and home against Arizona State next Tuesday (Jan 21), 9:00pm on CBS Sports Network…The #22 wrestling team is getting ready to face quite a gauntlet over the
next few weeks: they have matches against #13 Iowa State (1/8), #18 Pitt (1/12), at #21 Oklahoma (1/17), at #3 Oklahoma State (1/19), at #19 Missouri (1/26), and #10 Northern Iowa (2/1). That is six straight matches against Top 25 teams…The gymnastics team opened its season with a win over Temple. They scored 193.6, in which they had three good events, and one bad one on balance beam. Once they get that squared away, they should be in good shape for a solid season.
