DeVries Quick Hits: 3-Point Shooting, Defense, and Javon Small

West Virginia defeated Iona 86-43 on Wednesday, notching their third victory of the season.

Following the blow-out win, WVU head coach Darian DeVries spoke on some key points in the victory.

The Mountaineers shot well from beyond the arc, 48.4% against the Gaels. Their 15 three-pointers made up 52% of their points.

“You hit 15 threes, that’s usually a pretty good night for you. So, we’ll certainly take that,” DeVries said. “I thought late in the first half we started settling for too many threes. I thought we needed to get into the paint more, and we needed to get to the free-throw line more. Sometimes that happens, too; when you have guys make a few, they’re trying to have them a night.”

West Virginia’s defense also played a big role in the outcome. They forced 21 turnovers and held Iona to under 24% shooting.

“I thought overall our guys were pretty good at holding them to 23.7%. I believe that’s their lowest in 20 years,” DeVries said.” So, defensively, I thought our guys did a great job of trying to take away their paint touches not letting them get downhill and they put stress on every single bounce to try to try to get into the paint. So, our guys did a nice job there and it takes a lot of communication.”

Lastly, WVU guard Javon Small undoubtedly had the game’s best performance. In 31 minutes, he scored 23 points, had five assists, five rebounds, four steals and a block.

“That’s the type of stat line I think he can do consistently. I really believe that he’s that type of player. And there’s a lot of winning numbers on that stat sheet,” DeVries said of Small. “Part of our focus here these last few days is we need him to be more assertive in kind of tuffing that stat sheet if you will. All those numbers are great because he is a big, strong guard. He can go get rebounds. He can get in the paint. He plays at a good pace. He’s got a good feel for the game and then he knows how to score on top of that.”

West Virginia has over a week off from game action but will face an extremely tough task in their next contest when they take on No. 3 Gonzaga in its first matchup in the Battle 4 Atlantis.