As No. 21 West Virginia and Arizona prepare for their second meeting this year, Tuesday in Morgantown, W.Va., much has changed since Thanksgiving weekend when the Mountaineers toppled the then-No. 24 Wildcats in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
For one, West Virginia (11-2, 2-0 Big 12) is now ranked, while Arizona (8-5, 2-0) has dropped out of the AP Top 25.
But another difference is that the Mountaineers now are missing the catalyst for their previous win over the Wildcats.
Tucker DeVries, who hit 8 of 12 shots from 3-point range, scoring 26 points in West Virginia’s 83-76 overtime victory, has missed the Mountaineers’ last five games with an upper-body injury.
Despite his absence, West Virginia is riding a seven-game winning streak, which was triggered by its win over Arizona.
The run includes a 62-61 road upset of then-No. 7 Kansas on New Year’s Eve, followed by a 69-50 romp Saturday at home over Oklahoma State.
On Monday, West Virginia was rewarded with its first appearance in the Top 25 since December 2022 and its highest rank since the close of the 2020-21 season.
Taking the lead role for the Mountaineers has been Javon Small, who paces the Big 12 in scoring at 19.5 points per game.
West Virginia also has thrived with its defense. The Mountaineers rank third in the conference, allowing 62.5 points per game. They are second in field goal defense (37.1 percent) and first in 3-point defense (27.4 percent).
“I think the guys just do a nice job of being able to do both — cover the gaps and then also to be able to get out to the shooters,” West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said of his team’s ability to defend both inside and outside the arc.
The Mountaineers’ length on the perimeter also has keyed their defensive performance as wing players Toby Okani and Jonathan Powell stand 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-6. DeVries also adds size on the outside at 6-foot-7.
Arizona also enters on an uptick with four straight wins, including its first this year over a ranked team, winning 72-67 at then-No. 16 Cincinnati on Saturday.
The Wildcats did it with bench play as Carter Bryant made all five of his shots, including three from 3-point range, while 7-footer Henri Veesaar stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.
The career-high 14 points from Bryant, a freshman, were key as the Wildcats’ top scorer Caleb Love hit just 3 of 15 shots.
“One thing about Carter is he checks two boxes that are really hard to check. He is an elite talent and he has elite character,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “The progress he’s made in the last month has been game-changing for us.”
Love’s performance was likely a blip on the radar. In the previous three wins, he had averaged 26.7 points per game, making 58.7 percent of his shots from the floor.
Love had 24 points and Trey Townsend added 19 points in West Virginia’s win over Arizona six weeks ago in the Bahamas.
Asked how Tuesday’s game may be different, Darian DeVries quipped, “I think the biggest thing is we’ll go from 80 degrees to 20 degrees. That’s a big adjustment.”
–Field Level Media
