Two teams that seem to have found their stride match up Tuesday in Lawrence, Kan., as Big 12 Conference play begins for visiting West Virginia and No. 7 Kansas.
West Virginia (9-2) has won five straight games heading into conference season. The last four wins were by double digits. They’ve won both of their games against ranked opponents.
Coach Darian DeVries is in his first season in Morgantown after six straight 20-win seasons at Drake. He brought his son, Tucker, with him, and Tucker has been a key contributor for the Mountaineers when healthy. He’s averaging 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, both second on the team. He missed the last three games with an upper-body injury and is likely out for the conference opener.
In his absence, the top performer has been Javon Small, who transferred to WVU from Oklahoma State. Small leads the team at 19.7 points per game, which also leads the Big 12. He’s hitting 38.9 percent of his 3-point attempts, leading the team in attempts (72) and makes (28). He also leads the Mountaineers in assists (4.8) and steals (2.1). And he’s pulling down 4.4 rebounds per game.
Starting forward Amani Hansberry left the Mountaineers’ 67-46 victory over Mercyhurst on Dec. 22 with an injury less than a minute into the game. Darian DeVries does not expect Hansberry’s injury to be serious.
With the game against Kansas looming, being at full strength is critical.
“It’s getting harder,” coach DeVries said. “We talk to guys all the time. It’s next man up. Have yourself ready. You never know when that next opportunity is going to present itself. Hopefully, Amani is not out a long time. (I) feel like we have guys, like Haris (Elezovic) tonight, who can come in and give us some production and good minutes.”
Kansas (9-2) has won two straight after rare back-to-back road losses. The Jayhawks’ last game was an emphatic 87-53 victory over Brown on Dec. 22.
The two-game losing streak, coming at unranked Creighton and Missouri, was somewhat shocking for Kansas, especially considering their early season victories over North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke.
The Jayhawks are surprisingly in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in scoring offense (79.2 points; ninth) and defense (66.0 ppg allowed; eighth). This appears to be one of coach Bill Self’s deepest teams, though he doesn’t have an “alpha dog,” as he likes to describe a go-to player in clutch situations.
Maybe that guy can be Zeke Mayo, who scored 26 and 25 points in the last two games. Against Brown, the Jayhawks had three players in double figures, with three others within a bucket of that total. Besides Mayo’s output, Hunter Dickinson had 15 points and 13 rebounds and KJ Adams added 10 points.
Still, Self found something to critique.
“I thought we shared it, we just didn’t defensive rebound very well,” he said. “That would be the thing I would say we didn’t do well. All of the other stuff we were pretty good, and of course Zeke was terrific again.”
The Jayhawks are led by Dickinson (15.5 ppg), Mayo (13.5) and Dajuan Harris (10.3).
–Field Level Media
