While most students enjoy their holiday break at home, the West Virginia men’s basketball team remains in Morgantown preparing for Big 12 play. The Mountaineers have not seen game action in over a week and will face one of their biggest matchups of the season tomorrow, No. 7 Kansas.
No matter the opponent or time of year, the Mountaineers game preparation remains consistent: focusing on themselves and then who they are playing.
“What does Kansas do well offensively, defensively, and how do we try to attack both ends of the floor,” said DeVries. “Conference play always cranks up the intensity,” he added.
DeVries shared the familiarity between coaches, players, and fanbases is what continues to make conference play more significant. Kansas head coach Bill Self is the winningest coach in Kansas history with two national championships, 16 regular-season Big 12 titles, and eight league tournament championships.
“I have a lot of respect for him, he is an incredible coach,” said DeVries. “I actually played against his teams when he was at Tulsa way, way back.”
West Virginia hopes to enter this matchup with two key players returning to the court. Senior guard Tucker DeVries is out indefinitely for an upper body injury while sophomore forward Amani Hansberry suffered a game-ending lower body injury during last Sunday’s game.
“All of those guys were the same as they were when we left. We have today’s practice and tomorrow shoot around to determine where everybody is at,” DeVries said.
The Mountaineers will hit the road with a 0-11 all time away record against Kansas hoping to return to Morgantown with a win.
