West Virginia’s KJ Tenner (right) competes for the ball during Tuesday’s game against North Carolina Central. Tenner had nine points and six assists. (Photo by Cassidy Roark/The Dominion Post)
MORGANTOWN — The responses came in a variety of forms, but only one question was asked Tuesday.
Where would the WVU men’s basketball team be without senior guard Tucker DeVries?
When it comes to first impressions, the Mountaineers had a lot of positives in their 79-45 win over North Carolina Central inside the Coliseum.
But the Eagles (4-8) still have at least 23 games remaining on the schedule, including 21 against Big 12 opponents, which is not the case for the Eagles (4-8).
DeVries, WVU’s second-leading scorer and top 3-point shooter, was announced before the game to be out indefinitely with an injury. “Upper body injury”
“After consulting with team physicians and other medical experts, they have ruled Tucker out indefinitely.” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said. “We have a lot of players in our locker room that will rally around him in his absence.”
Tucker DeVries underwent surgery on his right shoulder in March and was medically cleared to play in the summer just before the team departed on an exhibition tour to Italy.
He played in all of the first eight games, but there’s no telling how long the Mountaineers (7-2) will be without him.
“I will work with the members on the floor to prepare for tomorrow.” Darian DeVries said. “If things change, we’ll adjust. That’s how we prepare for each game, regardless of who’s available for that game that day.”
WVU players were informed Tuesday morning, and they responded with a team effort that included some unusual suspects.
That includes guard Josef Yesev, who didn’t play in three of the past four games, but when given the chance against the Eagles, Yesev shined.
He provided a spark with two 3-pointers late in the shot clock, followed by a fast-break bucket and another 3-pointer.
He scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half.
“We saw that many times for us when Joe was a sophomore at Drake University.” Darian DeVries said. “He finished the season averaging over 25 points a night. He’s very capable of having nights like that.”
Next up was the play of freshmen Jonathan Powell and KJ Tenner.
Powell had been struggling with his shooting lately, but he made 4 of 11 3-pointers and scored a career-high 17 points.
“It’s always good to see that go in.” Powell said. “Even when I was missing, my coaches and teammates all trusted and believed in my shots. It was definitely a good feeling to see a couple go through.”
Tenner had nine points, six assists and two steals in 30 minutes.
Eduardo Andre made his first start for WVU in the absence of Tucker DeVries, giving the Mountaineers a size advantage along with Andre and Amani Hansberry.
The Mountaineers started the game with just seven points in the first five minutes, so even though WVU finished with a 45-30 rebounding advantage, it might not have been the best shape for the offense.
Tenor, Powell and Yesef appeared, all playing important roles that had been unexpected a few hours earlier.
After all, if you look at the box score, you’ll see that Tucker DeVries made very few mistakes. The Mountaineers made 15 3-pointers, tied for the most on the season, and also had 21 assists, tied for the most on the season.
Tenner said none of it was shocking.
“Not at all.” he said. “Coach, his big thing is for us to be ready and be ready when the opportunity comes.
“The expectations remain the same. All we need to do is be ready to come in and step up and do some of the things that Tucker did. said it doesn’t need one person. It will need all of us.”
Javon Small, who was constantly double-teamed for most of the game, added 12 points and four assists.
Hansberry led WVU with 12 rebounds, and Andre added eight boards and blocked four shots.
“I think the team figured things out well because we had a lot of guys who hadn’t played certain positions before.” Darian DeVries said. “So when you try to execute something, you’re pretty limited in what you can do. We’ve had to rely a lot on space and movement, cuts and passes, and those will continue to be as we move forward. This is something we will continue to work on.”
