Mountaineers use defense to defuse Cincinnati

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Feb 7, 2025

Okani

: Andre

: Powell

: Tenner

: Yesufu

MORGANTOWN — A purposeful team defense helped struggling West Virginia shed a three-game losing skid and defeat conference rival Cincinnati, 63-50, on Sunday at the packed Fifth Third Arena on the campus of the Bearcats.

A much better opening part of the game than had been shown in the previous three gamesWest Virginia’s full-court pressure defense boosted the game’s tempo and made Cincinnati’s second-half field goal percentage flag to under 30 percent — all losses — helped the Mountaineers move out to a 40-25 lead at the half.

Armani Hansberry, usually a reserve, got a start against the rival Bearcats (now 12-9 overall and just 2-8 in the Big 12 Conference) and contributed 11 rebounds. Reserve Joseph Yesufu was able to score 16 points in just 15 minutes of playing time, making all four of this three-point shot-attempts. Javon Small totaled 19 points and made 4-of-7 shots from three-point range.

West Virginia’s full-court pressure defense boosted the game’s tempo and made Cincinnati’s second-half field goal percentage flag to under 30 percent.

The near sellout crowd of 11,085 could never sustain any loud backing of the home team, once the zesty Mountaineers went ahead in the opening minutes.

Hansberry

The Mountaineers and Coach Darian DeVries used eight players and were able to stay away from foul trouble, even though they were often pressing the trailing Bearcats.

West Virginia only attempted six free throws in all; the Mountaineers made four of them and shot very well from the field, going 25-for-51 overall.

After 10 conference games, WVU is now 5-5 against the league. Its overall record moved to 14-7.

With 10 conference games remaining, the Mountaineers next traveled to Fort Worth to play Texas Christian this past Wednesday and return to the sold-out Coliseum on Saturday to face Utah (now 12-9 overall and 4-6 in conference games). The Horned Frogs defeated Colorado last weekend to improve their record to 11-10 overall and only 4-6 in conference games.

West Virginia had jumped its early-game lead to 22 points, with just 7:47 remaining. Cincinnati never really threatened to make a concerted run at the lengthy Mountaineer lead at any time in the second half. The increasingly disgruntled fans began hurling scattered boos at the flagging home team.

Small

In stopping its three-game losing skid, Coach DeVries used starters Small, Tobi Okani, Hansberry, Sencire Harris and Jonathan Powell and three reserves — Eduardo Andre, KJ Tenner and Yesufu — to subdue the troubled Bearcats.