WVU needs to find a way to get back on target against Cincinnati

MORGANTOWN — Darian DeVries would not go as far to admit his WVU men’s basketball team had suddenly forgotten the art of shooting a basketball.

He is open to any ideas as to how to shake the Mountaineers out of their three-game shooting funk.

“I guess we could try punting them in,” he joked.

As WVU (13-7 4-5 Big 12) travels to Fifth Third Arena to face Cincinnati at 2 p.m. Sunday, it does so knowing it’s due to start making some shots.

WVU STATS

Going back to the upset of Iowa State on Jan. 18, the Mountaineers hit nine 3-pointers in that victory.

In its three games since — losses to Arizona State, Kansas State and Houston — WVU has combined to make just three more than it did against the Cyclones.

“When you go 4 for 29, 4 for 21 and 4 for 18, that’s hard,” DeVries continued. “We’ve tried to put more of an emphasis of getting downhill and getting to the rim, but you still have to have your shooters. When they’re open, they’ve got to make them.”

The slumps can be found in the individual stats.

Freshman Jonathan Powell has gone the last seven games when he’s made at least 40% of his shots just once.

“J.P. has had a rough week, but he’s a really good shooter,” DeVries said. “He has to continue to shoot. His percentages are going to equal out by the end of the year. Unfortunately, he’s going through a little shooting slump in these last two or three games.”

Joseph Yesufu had a highlight game against Colorado on Jan. 12, shooting 6 of 9 from the floor. In the five games since, he’s made a total of five shots.

Amani Hansberry is a combined 8 of 31 (26%) over his last three games.

Toby Okani has reached double figures in scoring just once over the last nine games.

All of it has forced DeVries to try and find offense elsewhere, but it hasn’t been easy.

If the outside shooting doesn’t return, “You’re just going to be driving into people who are waiting for you with three guys,” DeVries said.

This leads the Mountaineers into today’s challenge, because trying to score against Cincinnati (12-8, 2-7) will be more than just a simple obstacle.

The Bearcats are second in the Big 12 in points allowed, with opponents shooting just 40.5% against them.

Cincinnati comes into the game — just like WVU — on a three-game losing streak.

 During Cincinnati’s losing streak, both Texas Tech and BYU hit the 80-point mark. The Red Raiders and Cougars did it with 3-point shooting, combining for 27 threes in those games.

It remains to be seen if WVU can follow that type of game plan.

What’s more likely to break out is a low-scoring battle. While Cincinnati ranks highly in the conference’s defensive stats, the Bearcats are near the bottom with WVU in several offensive categories.

Cincinnati is 14th in the Big 12 in scoring and is 15th in 3-point percentage, making just 31.7% of its attempts behind the arc.

This is the type of game DeVries would like to see from the Mountaineers.

“For us, when we’re good, it’s our defense,” he said. “We can talk about shooting and all of that other stuff, it just doesn’t matter.

“It’s all about, when we guard, then our group has a chance to be special and can do some really good things against good teams.”