MORGANTOWN — Darian DeVries hulked up in front of the WVU bench, as the raw emotion poured out of him.
He begged the WVU Coliseum crowd of 11,522 for energy, by waving his arms repeatedly into the air.
Javon Small missed the show, with the WVU point guard saying after the Mountaineers’ 73-60 victory against Georgetown in the Big East-Big 12 Battle matchup, that he only heard DeVries yelling.
“I did all of that for you,” DeVries joked. “You mean you didn’t see any of it?”
Small was too busy taking over the game like you’d expect a superstar to do.
That’s pretty much been his story since the season began, although it’s a story he doesn’t seem all that interested in.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve had key roles before,” Small said. “Honestly, I just do what the team needs me to do for us to win.”
What that was Friday was scoring 26 points, including two near-miracle banked-in shots, while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“Small is a big-time guard,” Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley said. “That’s what seniors do. That’s what I would expect seniors to do. That dude has played a lot of basketball.”
Yeah, but maybe never quite like this.
In the span of just eight games, Small has gone from the player who got a lot of interest when he entered the transfer portal a second time last spring to the player every major school in the country would love to have on its roster right now.
His 19.9 scoring average is only overshadowed — maybe — by the fact he easily passes it all off as if it’s no big deal at all.
“I think he’s just embracing being a part of this team,” DeVries said. “He’s all about winning. Tonight, he gets 26, but Javon doesn’t care. All he wants to do is win. That’s all he cares about.”
And so this game with the Hoyas (7-2) is in the second half. The lead bounces back and forth, which is when Small came up with two amazing plays.
First, he snuck into the lane and somehow got off a shot over two Georgetown defenders while leaning backwards.
The ball banked in and Small was fouled. He hit the free throw to cut the Hoyas’ lead 41-39, with 14:24 remaining.
That was the moment DeVries seized upon, so did the crowd.
“I thought they had incredible energy out there,” Cooley said. “The home-court advantage is a real thing.”
So did Small and teammate Tucker DeVries, as the back-and-forth game quickly turned into a WVU runaway.
They both combined for consecutive 3-pointers and Toby Okani added a tip-in and a fast-break bucket for a 55-43 lead.
Then Small had his highlight of the night, forcing up a long three with literally just tenths of a second left on the shot clock.
It, too, banked in, giving the Mountaineers (6-2) a 57-50 lead with 4:48 left.
“I didn’t call the bank,” he said. “I don’t care how a shot goes in, if it goes in, I’ll take it.”
Tucker DeVries added 15 points, while Okani added 11. Sophomore guard Sencire Harris led the team with nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“The second half, we just played harder,” Darian DeVries said. “We played tougher. We were more physical and played with more energy and with more enthusiasm.
“Like I told the team, that first-half team is not going to win a lot of games. The way we played in the second half, I’ll take that team anywhere.”
Notes
** The Mountaineers’ victory tied this season’s Big East-Big 12 Battle 4-4. Three games still remain, with Houston and Kansas State playing Saturday and Oklahoma State playing Sunday.
** Dating back to WVU’s membership in the Big East, the Mountaineers have now won seven of the last eight games against the Hoyas.
** WVU center Eduardo Andre returned to the lineup after missing last week’s game against Arizona with an upper-body injury. He finished with four points and four blocks.
** A small skirmish broke out in the postgame handshake line, as players from both teams got in a shoving match.
“That was just emotion coming out,” Cooley said. “It’s part of the game. It was just a bunch of people talking (smack). That’s all it was.”
