2 weeks Ago By By Bob Hertzel CNHI Sports WVa.
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia plays Utah at 5 p.m. Saturday before a sold out Coliseum crowd and it’s the kind of event you don’t see every day.
With that in mind, let’s give you a smorgasbord of information about what is a crucial Big 12 game. --- This marks Utah’s first visit to Morgantown, that being brought about as it has become a member of the Big 12. Not sure WVU wants to see the Running Utes, either, as they are 6-0 all-time against WVU although it’s been a long time since they have played.
The last meeting came on March 19, 1998, in the NCAA Sweet 16 in Anaheim, Calif., with Utah escaping with a 65-62. Before that they played in the 1976 Kentucky Invitational Class, the 1974 Utah Classic, the 1961 Los Angeles Classic, the 1956 Dixie Classic in Raleigh and the 1947 NIT in Madison Square Garden.
--- There is a sense of familiarity with the Utes, though, as the game marks the return to the Coliseum for Josh Eilert, a Bob Huggins assistant who last year took on the job of being interim coach after Huggins lost his job. He was in town for a month before becoming an assistant at Utah as DeVries took over and offered DeVries whatever help he could in the transition. “He was really helpful,” DeVries said.
“We sat down and met for a long time. He helped in the transition. I don’t know him well but the short time I knew him he was a really good guy and I’m happy he got an opportunity at Utah.
” --- The importance of the game can’t be underestimated as WVU enters the game with a 14-8 overall record and a 5-6 mark in conference play, tied with Utah. The Utes are 13-9 overall so if Utah were to win, they would have the same 14-9 record as the Mountaineers and move ahead of them in the Big 12. --- Utah is no small problem for the Mountaineers.
“They’re huge. Someone said they are the fourth or fifth biggest starting lineup in the country. It’s really big, really tall.
They do a lot of back cutting and movement so they get a lot of layups. They do some of the things we do with our bigs at times,” DeVries said. The Utah starting line lists forward Ezra Ausar at 6-8, 238, and Jake Wahlin at 6-10, 212, with center Lawson Lovering at 7-1, 245, and guards Mike Sharavjamts at 6-9, 195, and Gabe Madsen at 6-6, 200 pounds.
WVU has had problems rebounding and this should only add to that situation. --- WVU guard and potential Big 12 Defender of the Year Sencire Harris suffered an injury toward the end of the TCU game and as of midday Friday his availability for the game was unknown. Missing him in the closing minutes hurt WVU’s chances of completing a comeback late in the affair at TCU.
“We could have used him down the stretch,” DeVries said. Also on the injury front, the decision to end swingman Tucker DeVries’ season with shoulder surgery and apply for a medical redshirt was inevitable. “When we shut him down we were doing everything possible to try and get him back.
He wanted to be a part of this group and what we had going, but ultimately the doctors said we couldn’t get to that point and we had to have the surgery,” DeVries said. “Now we’re starting a new process of rehab. Everything went well, which is great, and he’s looking to get back and being healthy in about two or three months.
It’s been a long process for him. I know he’s tired of the training room.” DeVries hadn’t been healthy since the end of his sophomore year and played hurt last year, winning the Missouri Valley Player of the Year Award before undergoing surgery.
Now it’s being done again, but earlier. “From a timing standpoint, he wanted to get back and play, but instead of the last couple of years he missed the whole offseason. He wanted to be able to train, get in the weight room and work on his game, so this works out better than the last couple of years.
That’s a little bit of silver lining.” DeVries also indicated that Jayden Stone, injured in the preseason, would not return this year and would seek a redshirt and that he expects to play here next year, too. --- Utah is not only unconventional in its size but in its approach to offense and defense, making preparation for them even tougher.
As it is, WVU enters with a handicap, having ended a two-game road trip and not getting home until early Wednesday morning, cutting down on the work that could be done on Wednesday. “For them, it’s keeping you off balance. They run triangle, they run box, they run zone, they run man.
They guard some guys and not others. It’s a lot to prepare for. That’s the hardest part, especially coming off a long road trip so we couldn’t do a lot on Thursday,” DeVries said.
The end result is that you don’t spend a lot of time getting ready for the gimmick defenses that you will see. This will present a challenge for Javon Small, the Mountaineers’ and the Big 12’s top scorer. “They’ve done a lot of different things he’s seen.
He’s gotten double teams and triple teams, he’s certainly seen people trying to take him away,” DeVries said. “The box and one is just another way of trying to do that.” Follow @bhertzel on X UTAH Men’s BASKETBALL.
