Initial Thoughts on WVU's Flat Performance at Home vs. Arizona

Rapid reactions to West Virginia's loss to Arizona.

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All good things have to come to an end at some point. Tonight's West Virginia's seven-game winning streak came to an end as they fell to the Arizona Wildcats, 75-56.

Here are a few of my takeaways from tonight's game.

DeVries' absence is starting show its impact

I'm not overreacting to just one loss, but even in their two wins against Kansas and Oklahoma State, the offense dried up in the second half, and they were thankful that the defense played at a high level. Without DeVries, there is no rhythm to the offense. It's Small running around trying to find a shot, and then when he gives it up, the other four are either trying to find a way to get it back to him or they take a low-percentage shot.

Figuring out the trap

Arizona clearly noticed West Virginia's struggles in the second half versus Kansas and then on Saturday against Oklahoma State when both teams trapped in the halfcourt, putting a ton of pressure on point guard Javon Small. The other four on the floor struggled to get into a spot to help out, but part of it is on Small for not avoiding the trap. This is something that opposing teams are going to continue to do until the Mountaineers solve it.

Fatigue setting in?

As previously mentioned, the defense has been the saving grace for this team this season. They've been one of the best defensive teams in all of college basketball, but tonight, they were slow getting back, didn't rotate or communicate well enough, and gave up way too many second-chance opportunities. I had a feeling the short rotation would catch up to them at some point, and it looked like that was part of the problem tonight. These dudes look exhausted. Fortunately, they'll have a handful of days to rest, not playing again until Sunday.

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