MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — The West Virginia Mountaineers upset Utah on the road, beating the Josh Eilert-led Utes, 71-69! Early on, it appeared that it was going to be a long night again for the Mountaineers, but Darian DeVries´ fought back from a 12 point deficit to secure a huge late season win on the road!
West Virginia, now 18-12 overall and 9-10 in the Big 12 Conference, was led by a gutsy performance from senior guard Javon Small, who had 18 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds. Amani Hansberry had 12 points and 6 rebounds, Jonathan Powell finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds, and senior guard Joseph Yesufu added 12 points off the bench for the Mountaineers.
PLAY OF THE GAME:
ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀꜱ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴡɪɴɴɪɴɢ ᴘʟᴀʏꜱ.
👏 @small_javon pic.twitter.com/5XY5TTK9Sx
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) March 5, 2025
Following the game, head coach Darian DeVries had the following to say about his team´s peformance: ¨I thought we came out and we just didn’t have much during the first fifteen minutes of the game. I don’t know what the factors are, whether it being a long road trip or whatever, but what I was really proud of the guys about is they bounced out of it, and then they started to play with that confidence and swagger that we love to see. I thought we really dug in in the 2nd half and had some big stops and that half wore on and then offensively, I thought we started to find a little more rhythm on how to go get in the paint and go make plays for one another.¨
With the win, West Virginia will almost certainly now make the NCAA Tournament, which is a huge accomplishment after the Mountaineers finished 9-23 last season, had to completely rebuild their roster and lost their best player to injury, Tucker DeVries, early in the season. Most NCAA Tournament experts have the Mountaineers as an 8, 9 or 10 seed right now, but a lot could change if West Virginia wins their season finale at home against UCF and makes a deep run in the upcoming Big 12 Tournament.
West Virginia has been in Utah for the last several days with games against BYU and Utah, and now the Mountaineers will return home for their regular season finale against the UCF Knights. UCF is currently 15-14 overall and 6-12 in the Big 12 Conference. That game will take place this Saturday, March 8th at 5:00PM inside the WVU Coliseum. After that, the Mountaineers will compete in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City from March 12th through March 16.
