Quick reactions to West Virginia’s overtime win over Arizona

On Friday night, the West Virginia Mountaineers clinched third place in the Battle 4 Atlantis 2024 with an 83-76 overtime win over the Arizona Wildcats.

Here are some of my takeaways from today’s game.

The one thing that has really stood out to me through the first seven games of the season is the mental toughness of this group. Whether it’s a slow start, a cold offensive streak, or a disjointed defense, they just seem unfazed by adversity of any kind. You could see it in the first few games, but you could tell they really picked up and believed in the second half of the Gonzaga game. What makes their courage even more impressive is the fact that they played hard three days in a row, all into overtime. They had every excuse to be tired or out of fuel, but they put their blinders on and just kept going.

West Virginia has had a handful of consistent winners over the last decade or so, like Sean McNeil, Taz Sherman and others, but DeVries may be the best since Da’Sean Butler. Not only can he take the hard-fought shots, but he also has all the confidence in the world to keep shooting fire. He can also be a consistent three-point scorer, but that wasn’t necessarily the case with the other guys who were more spot-up shooters.

On a day where Javon Small was a bit off on offense, the Mountaineers desperately needed someone to fill the void. Who knew Tony Okani would be this guy? I certainly don’t. The defensive-minded striker threw big shot after big shot and had a smooth-looking strike from the outside edge that was somewhat unexpected. Okani played great today, and if he can provide just a little offense every night, this team will be in great shape for the future.

Tenner provides a nice little (no pun intended) burst of energy when he’s on the floor. He is so fast and agile that he becomes a real threat on the defensive end of the floor. Despite his small size, he also doesn’t lack confidence when he has the ball in his hands. The fact that he appears to be ahead of Joseph Yesufu in the rotation says a lot about how far he has come in such a short amount of time.

West Virginia will have a much-needed full week of rest as they take the floor next Friday in the Big 12-Big East battle against Georgetown.

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