After losing to TCU 65-60 in their last meeting, the Mountaineers dominated in Tuesday night’s performance, leading to a 73-55 win.
During his press conference, Darian DeVries was happy to see that shots were falling for the Mountaineers. The team shot 51.9% from the field and added 11 threes, shooting 42.3%.
“I thought that’s kind of what we envisioned with these guys and these shooters. I still think there’s more there. You know, getting a couple of other guys going down the stretch will be huge for us too. They make such a difference for us when we can set our defense after made shots and made threes, especially. For us to get 11 threes, that’s really beneficial for our offense,” DeVries commented.
The Mountaineers high-energy defense led by Sencire Harris was able to hold TCU to only three three-pointers all game and 39% shooting from the field. Harris also added a career-high 13 points in the victory.
“In the open floor, I thought he was just great all around tonight. I thought that he really impacted the game at both ends of the floor, offensively in the first half and then the whole game defensively,” DeVries said about Harris.
Coming off the bench, freshman guard KJ Tenner was a spark for the Mountaineers adding four points, three steals, and two rebounds.
“I mean he played 10, 11 minutes, we were a plus 14 when he was on the floor,” DeVries said. “He got his hands on balls or got some steals for us and let us get into transition. He got a couple of his floaters down as well, so I thought he had a really solid game for us.”
Late in the second half, TCU was able to close in and get within nine points of the Mountaineers with five minutes left. After that, the Horned Frogs didn’t make another field goal and the Mountaineers were able to close out their victory.
“I thought when it got to that, I thought we really dug in and were able to keep them from getting into the paint, getting those shots at the rim, and made everything difficult. Our offense just did enough,” DeVries said.
This home win is crucial for DeVries and the Mountaineers as they hope to bring this momentum on the road for No. 25 BYU and a tough Utah team next.
