After another big win, No. 23 WVU must avoid a letdown against struggling Arizona State

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Jan. 20—MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s hiatus as an AP-ranked team lasted all of one week, with the Mountaineers moving back into the poll at No. 23 on Monday.

Fitting, because WVU (13-4, 4-2 Big 12) has spent the entire season to this point bucking the trends.

Label the Mountaineers as underdogs and, well, that underdog has some serious bite.

Predict WVU near the bottom of the Big 12 and head coach Darian DeVries and point guard Javon Small have teamed up to keep the Mountaineers running near the top of the league standings.

WVU STATS “We’ve talked about with our team from Day 1, don’t limit yourself on anything, ” DeVries said following WVU’s 64-57 upset of No. 1 Iowa State last Saturday. “We’re going to come. We’re going to compete. These are the things we feel like we need to be good at to win and let’s go try and do that.

“I’ve never been a guy that’s been like, hey, we need to win this many games to be successful. It’s more about how can we maximize this group. If you can do that, then those wins follow.”

It sets WVU up for yet another encore performance. It was just three weeks ago when the Mountaineers walked into Allen Fieldhouse and knocked off Kansas and then followed that up with a strong performance against Oklahoma State.

There was no let down following that first big moment, and WVU isn’t expecting one now, as the Mountaineers get set to host struggling Arizona State (10-7, 1-5) at 9 p.m. Tuesday inside the Coliseum.

“It’s just one game at time, ” said Small, the Big 12’s leading scorer at 19.8points per game. “We understand how big and how important the (Iowa State) game was. We just can’t come out on Tuesday against Arizona State and blow it off.

“We have to keep building momentum and keep racking up wins.”

In his 10th season at Arizona State, head coach Bobby Hurley has the Sun Devils struggling to keep their head above water despite an offensive stat sheet that boasts six players averaging 9.4 points per game or more.

That includes prized freshman guard Joson…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/another-big-win-no-23-033600838.html

Author : The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

Publish date : 2025-01-21 03:36:00

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