WVU needs the best version of Amani Hansberry against No. 9 Texas Tech

MORGANTOWN — Amani Hansberry is a young man with options on a basketball court.

As the WVU forward began to describe some of them, the reaction from teammate Javon Small was priceless.

“The way most teams play ball screens with Javon, they either try to blitz it or isolate him to one side,” Hansberry began. “I try to make contact with a guy guarding Javon to make sure the big has to pull with Javon. Now we’ve got two to the ball and we can play two against one on the backside with me and Jonathan Powell.”

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It all sounds pretty complicated, to be sure, but Hansberry wasn’t finished.

“If I happen to screen and Javon can get downhill, that’s good,” he continued. “If I screen and two (defenders) go to Javon and he kicks it to me for a three, that’s good. If two go to Javon and (Powell) rotates, then that’s one more, and that’s good.”

By this point, Small, who is sitting right next to Hansberry as he’s speaking, can’t hold in his smile any longer as he’s listening to his teammate getting way too elaborate.

In any sense, Hansberry’s more important option is the impact he had in the Mountaineers’ 62-59 victory against Cincinnati on Wednesday, and how much of a role he’ll have at 1 p.m. Saturday, as WVU (16-10, 7-8 Big 12) travels to No. 9 Texas Tech (20-6, 11-4).

It will be WVU’s fourth game this season facing a top 10-ranked team on the road or on a neutral court. The Mountaineers are 2-1 in the previous three.

The 6-foot-8 Hansberry recorded his second double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds against Cincinnati.

The story behind that was options. He got off to a good start with seven points over the first six minutes of the game.

From there?

“It was a little shaky,” he admitted.

As WVU began to chip away at a six-point deficit in the second half, Hansberry nailed another 3-pointer, hit a couple of free throws and then scored in the paint that gave the Mountaineers an eight-point lead with 1:30 remaining.

“I had to be more consistent and play my role for the team,” he said. “I had to contribute to the win anyway I could.”

The rebounds were critical. WVU has spent the entire portion of Big 12 play getting beat on the boards. Against Cincinnati, WVU finished plus-8 (40-32) and seven of Hansberry’s 13 rebounds were offensive boards.

Which leads the Mountaineers into today’s matchup against the highest-scoring team in the Big 12.

Hansberry will likely be matched up with Tech’s J.T. Toppin, who is making a hard push for Big 12 Player of the Year honors.

The 6-9 Toppin has had four consecutive double-doubles heading into the game, in which he’s averaged 27 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.

He had 41 points in a double-overtime win against Arizona State and followed that up with 32 points against Oklahoma State.

Texas Tech is coming into the game after a loss, a 69-66 shocker on the road against TCU, but the Red Raiders are 13-2 this season inside United Supermarkets Arena.

If the Mountaineers are to pull off a shocker of their own, it will likely have something to do with Hansberry being the best option of himself.

“We have to stay poised, stay together,” Hansberry said. “We know what we have to do to win in these situations. We’ve been there before. We let a few of them slip. We have to learn from our mistakes and play hard.”