MORGANTOWN — It was as if the mountains and hills within the state’s borders had magically been removed Tuesday.
Those old West Virginia country roads now stretched for miles with no twists and turns to navigate.
That’s how flat the 23rd-ranked Mountaineers were inside the Coliseum.
In what was the most disappointing outcome of Darian DeVries’ first season at WVU, Arizona State pulled out a hard-to-watch 65-57 victory.
“It’s like we’ve talked about, we put so much on Javon (Small), and on a night when they made it hard for him to get loose and free, we’ve got to be able to find different ways to score,” DeVries said. “That’s been our struggle. That’s something we’ve got to continue to work on and get better at, but we stall out sometimes.”
WVU stalled big time in this one, coming up with its worst shooting performance of the season and possibly its worst rebounding game, too.
The Mountaineers were held to their lowest scoring total of the season, while also going just 18 of 56 (32.1%) from the floor, which is — by far — the worst mark of the season.
“We had great open shots,” WVU guard Sencire Harris said. “They just didn’t fall. We tried to make it up on defense, but then we slacked a little there.”
Making matters worse, WVU was also outrebounded by a commanding margin, 46-28.
That led to Arizona State freshman Jayden Quaintance dominating down low with 15 points and 12 rebounds, as the Sun Devils outscored WVU 36-26 in the paint.
“I thought he was great,” DeVries said of Quaintance. “He puts himself in the right spot. When we had guys step up the floor, he’s sitting in as the dunker waiting for the drop-off. He was a big factor. He’s got great potential.”
The first 20 minutes weren’t pretty at all. WVU (13-5, 4-3 Big 12) missed its first six shots and took nearly four minutes to get on the scoreboard.
Small, who was the hero in last Saturday’s upset of No. 2 Iowa State with 27 points, struggled to find any rhythm early. He was 0 for 4 at the break with just two rebounds, an assist and two free throws to his name.
Meanwhile, Arizona State (11-7, 2-5) looked every bit like a team struggling in conference play.
Leading scorer B.J. Freeman picked up two fouls and sat out the majority of the half and the Sun Devils shot just 34.6% (9 of 26) from the floor.
Arizona State did some damage on the glass — hard not to with both teams combining for 38 missed shots — but WVU countered by forcing nine turnovers and turning those into 19 points.
It all led to an Arizona State 24-23 halftime lead, the fifth time the Mountaineers have trailed at the break this season.
The early moments of the second half didn’t get any better.
WVU got off to another shaky start in the second half. An 0-for-6 start was a sign of things to come.
Quaintance made WVU pay this time. He scored five straight points, Freeman scored on a drive and Basheer Jihad hit two free throws that gave the Sun Devils a 33-23 lead.
DeVries tried everything to get WVU back into the game, using a bigger lineup that included Amani Hansberry and Eduardo Andre on the floor at the same time, while also throwing a full-court press at the Sun Devils.
Both came with limited success. WVU got as close as 55-51 with 2:32 remaining after Harris canned two free throws.
Arizona State sealed the deal with Quaintance. He came up with a dunk and lay-up as part of his sixth double-double of the season.
Small never got going. He didn’t make his first basket of the game until 8:57 remained, but did finish with 14 points and four rebounds. He was 10 of 11 from the foul line.
“Just trying to make things as difficult as possible,” was how Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley explained how his team defended WVU’s point guard. “We were trying to show bodies in driving lanes, guys stabbing at the ball just so he couldn’t get any drives to the basket.
“He does a great job of drawing contact. He’s a physical driver. We just didn’t want to let him get any run-outs or transition points and now the basket gets bigger. He’s one of the best scorers in our league, so you certainly don’t want to do that. I thought we did a good job on him overall.”
Jonathan Powell added 12 points for WVU, which now heads out on the road to face Kansas State on Saturday.
Notes
** Bobby Hurley is now 1-1 against WVU as a head coach. As the former head coach at Buffalo, the Bulls lost 68-62 to the Mountaineers in the first round of the 2015 NCAA tournament. That game was played in Columbus, Ohio.
** WVU has only outrebounded one Big 12 team this season (Oklahoma State) and is minus (-49) in rebounding over its last five games.
** After holding Iowa State to 1 of 17 from 3-point range last Saturday, Arizona State went 5 of 17 from behind the arc.
