MORGANTOWN — West Virginia brought out the boo birds Sunday inside Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati.
None of it was aimed right at the Mountaineers, at least not directly.
Rather the disappointed Cincinnati fans had seen enough of the struggling Bearcats, who were once ranked No. 16 in the country, but were handed their fourth straight loss after a 63-50 WVU victory.
“The game plan was just, if it was our last game, how hard would we play?” WVU point guard Javon Small told ESPN following the game. “We were just trying to get back into the win column today.”
Mission accomplished, as WVU’s defense took hold of a struggling Cincinnati offense and held four of the Bearcats’ five starters below their season scoring average.
“I thought defensively the guys really came out with a good focus,” said WVU head coach Darian DeVries on his radio postgame show. “I thought the guys, especially Sencire (Harris), put a really good effort into guarding the ball to get us started defensively from a mindset standpoint.”
The Bearcats (12-9, 2-8 Big 12), minus the first eight minutes of the first half, were never competitive in this one.
There were several reasons why, all of them circled back to the Mountaineers’ defensive effort.
Cincinnati was held to just 31.5% (17 of 54) shooting from the floor and never was able to use its size advantage, as WVU (14-7, 5-5) outscored the Bearcats in the paint, 30-22.
“It’s a hard game plan to execute, because they have a guard coming downhill and they love to throw the lobs,” DeVries said. “Obviously the bigs did a really good job of not giving that up, but then the guards of not getting hit was one of the biggest keys to it all.
“They were able to get back in front, so our bigs didn’t have to stay (in front) quite as long. We didn’t put them in any indecision, do I help or do I go back to the big?”
The telltale sign of what WVU accomplished defensively was Cincinnati had just as many turnovers as baskets until five minutes remained in the game.
The Mountaineers tied a season high with 12 steals and Cincinnati’s 14 turnovers led to 20 extra points for the Mountaineers. Other defensive stats saw Amani Hansberry finish with 11 rebounds, while Harris added four steals.
It couldn’t have come at a better time for WVU — “Our previous week was pretty tough,” Small admitted. — as the Mountaineers ended a three-game losing streak and stabilized themselves at .500 in Big 12 play at the halfway mark of the conference season.
WVU also earned its third Big 12 road win of the season, with Small leading the way with a boost from Joseph Yesufu off the bench.
Small came out aggressive in the first half, nailing three 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes to give WVU an early 19-11 lead.
That opened up some driving lanes, which Small took advantage of, too. He had 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and also finished with a season-high nine assists.
“He had a good night,” DeVries said of Small. “He said he’s played in this gym a few times and had some good nights. He had another tremendous game and continues to play at a really high level.”
Yesufu didn’t miss a shot, including a 24-footer before the buzzer sounded at halftime that gave the Mountaineers a 40-25 lead at the break.
He added another three with 7:47 remaining in the game that gave WVU its largest lead of the game, 59-47, before connecting on a floater through the lane after Cincinnati got as close as 11 points late in the game.
He was a perfect 6 of 6 from the field and Yesufu’s 16 points were the needed complement to Small’s performance.
Add it all up, it equaled WVU adding another ounce of frustration for Cincinnati fans, as the Bearcats fell to 9-19 against Big 12 competition since joining the league last season.
Now, the Mountaineers have the task ahead of heading to TCU on Wednesday to face another struggling offensive team.
The Horned Frogs are dead last in the Big 12 in scoring, although WVU is just one spot ahead of them.
“We just have to keep winning games and keep winning together,” Small said. “It’s a team effort at the end of the day. We just have to keep coming out here and play every single game like it’s our last.”
