As West Virginia continues to practice prior to the 2024 season, players’ abilities are further revealed and evaluated.
Darian DeVries, entering his first season as head coach of the Mountaineers, built a roster from scratch with the exception of one player, forward Ofri Naveh. Now, as DeVries gets a good look at his players, Javon Small, a guard transfer from Oklahoma State, stands out.
“Javon’s been terrific. And offensively is where he’s kind of what I thought we were getting,” DeVries said.
Small, a senior, is coming off a season at Oklahoma State before starting his collegiate career at East Carolina. Small was the Cowboy’s top-scorer in 2023-2024, averaging 15.1 points per game. His career-high was 29 points against Notre Dame on Nov. 17, 2023.
Beyond his offensive play, DeVries has seen major improvement from Small on the defensive side of things.
“Defensively that’s where I think he’s made the greatest strides,” DeVries said of Small. “He’s really made some good steps there.”
DeVries mentioned how Small fits into the defensive scheme and conveyed his excitement when talking about the outlook for his defense due to Small’s improvement.
“I’m excited to see defensively when you add him (Small), and then a couple of the other guys, I think, are pretty strong defensively,” DeVries said. “I think we could really have a good strong backcourt defensively, especially with the way he’s made some big strides.”
WVU will begin its season with an exhibition against Charleston (West Virginia, DII) on Oct. 18 before they host Robert Morris on Nov. 4 to kick off the regular season.
