West Virginia men’s basketball has had an issue at various points this season when it comes to their ability to find enough consistent scoring from their roster. Since the depleted roster lost senior Jayden Stone to a preseason injury and senior Tucker DeVries in December to an upper-body injury — with both out for the season — their issue with consistent scoring on a night-to-night basis has only worsened.
So it was likely a pleasant surprise to both fans and the team itself when they had the opposite issue on Tuesday night as they hosted BYU at the WVU Coliseum — all eight players in the Mountaineers’ rotation made at least one bucket, five players sunk at least one three-point shot, and three players hit double-digits. The game was tightly contested throughout and wasn’t decided until the final seconds — but in the end, the Mountaineers were outmatched by the Cougars (16-8, 7-6) in a 73-69 loss.
“It certainly was [a battle], and we knew it would be. They’re a really good team,” WVU Head Coach Darian DeVries told the Mountaineer Sports Network following the loss. “In the second-half we were able to kind of get our offense going…but we were giving them everything they wanted.”
The Mountaineers (15-9, 6-7) were led by a breakout performance from senior Toby Okani, who dropped a 16 point performance while also racking up five rebounds in the win. Freshman Jonathan Powell (11 points) and Senior Joe Yesufu (11 points) also tallied double-digits for the Mountaineers.
WVU’s leading scorer, senior Javon Small, had a muted scoring effort, adding just nine points, but he also dished an impressive nine assists in an efficient offensive performance.
“Nine assists is a lot, and I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of what was available,” DeVries said of Small’s effort.