Sencire Harris may provide a dual role for WVU, which travels to No. 25 BYU

MORGANTOWN — Don’t look now, but Sencire Harris is taking on the added role as a shooter.

“Don’t tell him that,” jokes WVU men’s basketball coach Darian DeVries. “I don’t want him thinking he’s an offensive guy.”

OK, it will be our little secret.

The numbers are getting more difficult to ignore. In all honesty, that statement has been true of Harris all season, except now it’s for good reasons.

Heading into Saturday’s 10 p.m. — that’s no typo, the game really begins that late — road matchup against No. 25 BYU (20-8, 11-6 Big 12), Harris has turned himself into a 56% shooter from the floor over his last five games.

WVU STATS

“It definitely brings us some momentum,” WVU point guard Javon Small said of Harris. “(Against Texas Tech), he was playing a little hesitant. I told him to be a threat more than anything. When he’s a threat to score, he helps us out in a really good way.”

There is no telling this story of Harris’ turnaround without first going back to the beginning of the season.

That’s a story of Harris nicknamed Buck — going the first 12 games of the season without a 3-pointer. In those same 12 games, he was shooting 32% overall.

“He just got off to such a tough start,” DeVries said. “It would be hard for anybody not to let it get into your head.”

Except that’s not exactly who Harris is, he isn’t going to be defined by shortcomings.

“I just keep putting in the work and the coaches trust me,” Harris said.

That’s not just talk coming from the sophomore from Canton, Ohio. Generally when an athlete talks about putting in extra work, you get a little different story from the head coach.

Not this time.

“Buck puts in the work,” DeVries confirmed. “He’s in the gym. He’s constantly working on his catch-and-shoots. He’s working on trying to get into the paint and finishing with his mid-range and things.”

Suddenly, that horrible start is a thing of the past.

“You could see it these last few weeks that he started to break loose of that,” DeVries said. “Now he’s just playing. That’s what we need from him. We know what we’re going to get from him defensively, but now offensively, we’re getting him a little more in attack mode and a little more confident. That’s really helped our offense.”

That help has come with Harris now taking step-back jumpers from 15-feet and driving to the rim with purpose, as well as occasionally hitting a 3-pointer.

Those extra weeks and months working on those shots weren’t just to get the fundamentals down.

“I feel confident in taking those shots,” Harris said. “My thing is confidence. Javon gets on me everyday to shoot the ball with confidence.”

His confidence was shaken early, and for good reason. While he spent two seasons at Illinois, Harris spent last year watching from the bench as a redshirt. He came into this season having not played in a real game for 599 days.

“I feel like I’m just now getting my feet wet again,” he said. “It just feels good that I’m getting my confidence back again.”

Harris could very well be a major key against the Cougars.

WVU (17-11, 8-9) would securely be off the NCAA tournament bubble with a win against BYU, but the Cougars are nearly unbeatable inside the Marriott Center. Just ask Kansas, which lost at BYU by 35 points 11 days ago.

The Cougars beat WVU, 73-69, on Feb. 11, while nailing 10 3-pointers and shooting 56% from the floor in the second half.

Harris can alter some of that with his defense. By adding some offense, now WVU may be able to keep up when the Cougars threaten to go on a run.

“When we bring that energy and we’re hyped, good things happen to us,” Harris said. “The basketball gods will always reward us. When we play connected and with energy, no one can stop us.”