Flame Reignited? DeVries Happy to See WVU Play at a High Level Again in Second Half

West Virginia might have lost on Wednesday, but they feel much better about where they are headed.
Jan 29, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Darian DeVries talks to his players during the first half against the Houston Cougars at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images
Jan 29, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Darian DeVries talks to his players during the first half against the Houston Cougars at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images / Ben Queen-Imagn Images

The start of Wednesday night's game between West Virginia and Houston felt like another one-sided loss was in store for the Mountaineers, who were beaten handily in their previous two games by Arizona State and Kansas State.

WVU fell behind 22-7 and had nothing going for them offensively once again. Going into the game, WVU head coach Darian DeVries knew that his defense had to show up if there was going to be any chance of an upset, and even that end of the floor had its issues in the first 20 minutes of play.

Coming out of the locker room, the Mountaineers opened up the second half with a completely different energy and attitude, which helped get them back to within five. Unfortunately, the offense sputtered as fatigue set in during the final five minutes or so of the game and Houston was able to pull away with a 14-point win.

West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries
West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

While the losing skid extended to three games, DeVries feels hopeful that they'll be able to snap out of it soon thanks to re-finding their identity in the second half.

"The first half felt like our last two games, to be honest with you. We just haven’t played with the same spirit that we had prior to that. I thought the second half; if we get back to that and do it for a full 40 minutes, we’re going to be right there where we need to be to win games down the stretch. And like I’ve told the guys, it’s a long season. It's tough, it’s a grind, and we still got 11 games left, so there are lots of opportunities out there to go win games. They’ve put themselves in a good position to survive a stretch like this where you go through a three-game losing streak, but at some point, you’ve got to put the brakes on, and we’ve got to get back on the other side of that column. Every night there’s an opportunity going forward where it’s a quad one or quad two type of game, and we’ve got to win our share of those.

“The good part about the second half is they felt it again. They felt what that was like in terms of how do we play at a high, high level? What does that mean? What does that look like? I told them to leave this building tonight only focused on what it looked like and felt like in that second half and make that their mindset again.”

The Mountaineers will hit the road for their next two games, taking on Cincinnati on Sunday at 2 p.m. EST and then TCU next Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI

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Kelvin Sampson Firmly Believes WVU Has a Bright Future with Darian DeVries

WVU Played in Two of the Best College Football Games of 2024, per ESPN

What Darian DeVries Said Following the Loss to No. 6 Houston


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Schuyler Callihan
SCHUYLER CALLIHAN

Publisher of Mountaineers Now on FanNation/Sports Illustrated. Lead recruiting expert and co-host of Between the Eers, Walk Thru GameDay Show, Mountaineers Now Postgame Show, and In the Gun Podcast.