MORGANTOWN — There will come a time when the winter winds decide to quit blowing and the snow melts into the ground.
If the 21st-ranked WVU men’s basketball team is still clawing and scratching for a berth into the NCAA tournament by then, the Mountaineers need to send a gigantic thank you to Joseph Yesufu.
The senior guard, who came into the season rehabbing from a hip injury and buried on the depth chart, handed the Mountaineers a gritty and critical road 78-70 win Sunday against Colorado inside the CU Events Center.
“Joe had a really huge second half for us,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said on his postgame radio show. “He’s done a great job of keeping himself and ready and waiting for that opportunity. We needed his speed and his ability to get to the rim in that second half.”
Aside from remaining in the upper echelon of the Big 12 standings — WVU is currently in a three-way tie for fourth place with a road game at No. 12 Houston coming up on Wednesday — the big news is the Mountaineers’ play on the road.
WVU picked up its second Big 12 road win of the season — the first being at Kansas — which ties for the same amount of conference road wins it’s had in the last three seasons combined.
The Mountaineers were 0-9 on the road in Big 12 play last season under Josh Eilert and a combined 2-16 in league road games over the final two seasons under Bob Huggins.
Despite trailing for just 18 seconds the entire game — those came in the opening seconds of the first half — WVU (12-3, 3-1 Big 12) was on the brink of losing to the Buffaloes (9-6, 0-4), who have yet to earn a Big 12 win this season.
The Buffaloes had erased most of a 14-point deficit, were causing confusion with their full-court press and WVU’s already short-handed rotation was even more compact through foul trouble.
Colorado did most of its damage in the second half by going 24 of 28 from the foul line. Otherwise, WVU’s defense held the Buffaloes to just 20% (8 of 23) shooting after halftime.
“We had the game, and we had that crowd quiet,” DeVries said. “Now, all of a sudden, you let them creep back into it at the free-throw line.”
Along came Yesufu, a college hoops journeyman who began his career at Drake with DeVries, but also had stops at Kansas and Washington State.
He finished with a season-high 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting, with 13 points coming in the second half.
Yesufu’s story began with 10:38 remaining in the second half. Colorado had kept WVU scoreless for more than three minutes and had closed the gap, 54-50.
Yesufu took a long two-point shot — his foot just barley on the 3-point line — that rang true to get the lead back up to six points.
The two teams continued to trade points over the next six minutes. WVU’s Sencire Harris scored on a back-door cut along the baseline and then scored on a drive to give the Mountaineers a 63-59 lead.
But then Harris fouled out and teammate Eduardo Andre also fouled out.
Javon Small, who was brilliant again with 26 points, seven assists and four rebounds, was well …
“Javon was exhausted, and rightfully so,” DeVries said.
Playing without both Tucker DeVries and K.J. Tenner, both out with injuries, WVU was nearly out of options.
But Yesufu came through in the clutch.
He drove to the bucket and drew a foul, and his two free throws gave WVU a 65-61 lead with 4:44 remaining. A minute later, Yesufu got to the free-throw line again, this time sinking one for a 66-61 advantage.
After Trevor Baskin scored on a follow-up dunk, Yesufu got to the rim again for a 68-63 lead with 90 seconds remaining.
His final moment came when WVU beat Colorado’s full-court press and Yesufu took the ball right at Colorado forward Assane Diop. Yesufu scored on the drive. Diop was whistled for a foul and Yesufu’s three-point play gave WVU enough ti win the game.
Small and Amani Hansberry finished the game out by going 7 of 8 from the foul line.
“That was a strange game,” DeVries said. “(Colorado) did a good job in the second half. They got us stagnant a little bit. As the game went on, we got fatigued and that bench got shorter and shorter with foul trouble. Overall, I told the guys I don’t care how we get it done, just get it done.”
