Arizona State pulls off 65-57 upset over No. 23 WVU inside the Coliseum

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Jan. 22—MORGANTOWN — It was as if the mountains and hills within the state’s borders had magically been removed Tuesday.

Those old West Virginia country roads now stretched for miles with no twists and turns to navigate.

That’s how flat the 23rd-ranked Mountaineers were inside the Coliseum.

In what was the most disappointing outcome of Darian DeVries’ first season at WVU, Arizona State pulled out a hard-to-watch 65-57 victory.

“It’s like we’ve talked about, we put so much on Javon (Small), and on a night when they made it hard for him to get loose and free, we’ve got to be able to find different ways to score, ” DeVries said. “That’s been our struggle. That’s something we’ve got to continue to work on and get better at, but we stall out sometimes.”

BOX SCORE WVU stalled big time in this one, coming up with its worst shooting performance of the season and possibly its worst rebounding game, too.

The Mountaineers were held to their lowest scoring total of the season, while also going just 18 of 56 (32.1 %) from the floor, which is—by far—the worst mark of the season.

“We had great open shots, ” WVU guard Sencire Harris said. “They just didn’t fall. We tried to make it up on defense, but then we slacked a little there.”

Making matters worse, WVU was also outrebounded by a commanding margin, 46-28.

That led to Arizona State freshman Jayden Quaintance dominating down low with 15 points and 12 rebounds, as the Sun Devils outscored WVU 36-26 in the paint.

“I thought he was great, ” DeVries said of Quaintance. “He puts himself in the right spot. When we had guys step up the floor, he’s sitting in as the dunker waiting for the drop-off. He was a big factor. He’s got great potential.”

The first 20 minutes weren’t pretty at all. WVU (13-5, 4-3 Big 12) missed its first six shots and took nearly four minutes to get on the scoreboard.

Small, who was the hero in last Saturday’s upset of No. 2 Iowa State with 27 points, struggled to find any rhythm early. He was 0 for 4 at the break with…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/arizona-state-pulls-off-65-122100768.html

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

Publish date : 2025-01-22 12:21:00

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