Men's Basketball, WVU Sports

A loaded Battle 4 Atlantis field is ‘great opportunity’ for WVU men’s hoops team

MORGANTOWN — It would seem like a dream, of sorts, maybe a nightmare, depending on your position. Darian DeVries sort of fits somewhere in the middle.

“It’s an opportunity,” the WVU men’s basketball coach said of what may await the Mountaineers when they travel to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis that begins Wednesday.

Consider this possibility for WVU (3-1), on what it may take for the Mountaineers to walk out with the tournament’s title: wins over Gonzaga, Indiana and Arizona.

Whoever wins the Final Four next April may not have that type of wall to climb.

“Definitely excited and I believe everyone on our team believes we can win it,” WVU point guard Javon Small said.

WVU STATS

It begins with No. 3 Gonzaga (5-0) at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Bulldogs are the biggest bully in the tournament’s field. Gonzaga already owns a 38-point blowout win against Baylor and it’s won all five games by an average of 32 points.

How?

Well, Gonzaga’s three guards — Ryan Nembhard, Khalif Battle and Nolan Hickman — are all shooting better than 43% from 3-point range.

All three combine for 37 points per game, and, oh by the way, Nembhard is second in the nation in assists at 9.4 per game.

Gonzaga has size down low with 6-foot-9 forward Graham Ike and 6-10 forward Braden Hall, with both of them also averaging double figures in scoring, while shooting better than 54% from the field.

If it sounds like the Bulldogs don’t miss, that’s only half true. They’re one of 45 teams in the country still shooting better than 50%.

“It’s a great game for us, a great challenge for us,” DeVries said. “We understand between now and when we toss it up in the Bahamas, we’ve got to get better at some things. We’re not going to be a complete fix by Wednesday, but we’ve got continue to grow as a team in certain areas. Our guys are pretty motivated to do that.”

The motivation will have to be on WVU’s defense to slow down the nation’s eighth-best scoring team.

The closest thing to competition WVU has seen so far to the Bulldogs was its 24-point loss against Pitt, in which the Panthers shot 48.3% from the field and connected on 10 3-pointers.

“I definitely feel like it’s an opportunity to prove ourselves after the bounce-back from the Pitt game,” Small said. “I just know the level of competition is going to be so much better. We just have to go out there and battle and don’t play scared. Our shots are going to fall.”

Depending on the outcome, WVU will play the winner/loser of the Indiana-Louisville game.

In the third game Friday, it could be Arizona, Providence, Davidson or Oklahoma. Those four teams have a combined 15-2 record heading into the tournament.

It will be three games in three days on an island paradise, but anything but on the court.

“I love the (multi-team events) for that reason,” DeVries said. “It gives you a kind of preview for the Big 12 tournament, where you may have to do that. You get a little feel for that tournament environment and that tournament feel to see how guys respond after a night. I love the challenge of this tournament. Win or lose, the field is loaded. It’s going to be three really good games for us.”