Sencire Harris Triggers Stingy Mountaineer Defense
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West Virginia guard Sencire Harris was the spark the Mountaineers needed in the second half against sixth-ranked Houston Wednesday night.
The sophomore found himself on the bench for most of the first half. He exited the game within the first two minutes of action following his first turnover and the Mountaineers were already trailing 5-0, and the Cougars extended their lead in Harris’ absence.
Harris checked back into the game with West Virginia trailing eight, and his time on the floor quickly ended after a pair of turnovers.
Houston went on to build a dominant 20-point halftime lead.
Then, West Virginia went on an 11-0 run to open the second half, and the Mountaineers cut it to six after Harris picked the pocket of senior guard Mylik Wilson in the backcourt and laid it and the WVU Coliseum was rockin’ with 13:39 left to play.
“The reason we got back into the game is because I felt like our guys played defensively at a level that they’re capable of and for us when we’re good, it’s our defense,” West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said.
Harris picked up two fouls in a span of 10 seconds with under nine minutes remaining in the game and left the game with four fouls. Houston began picking up momentum and Harris spell on the bench lasted a mere two minutes before he was back on the floor.
West Virginia stayed within striking distance and even pulled with five but was held to a field goal in the final six minutes, while Houston pulled away with the 63-49 victory.
“Sencire, when he’s really hooked up and into the ball, he’s as good as there is anywhere in the country and I thought that changed the whole game around to start the second half,” DeVries said “We flip flopped the matchups a little bit because we had him on (Houston senior guard LJ) Cryer the first half, but we felt coming out of halftime, if we wanted to change kind of the pace, the attitude of the game, we needed ‘Buck’ on the ball, pressuring full court to give us some life and I thought he did an unbelievable job with that.”
Oh, and his nickname is ‘Buck’.
Harris has led the team in steals since conference play, averaging 1.8 per game, ranking seventh in the league in conference action, and less than a half of a steal from sitting at the top.
“Buck’s not a guy that’s going to go out and hit eight threes for you,” DeVries said. “That’s just not his strength right now, but his strength is to dominate that ball and dictated defensively, and then, you can see all of our guys just follow him and then all of a sudden, they fed off of him. And now, our whole defense picked up.”
Harris and the Mountaineers look to end a three-game skid on Sunday as they travel over the Ohio River to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. EST and the action will broadcast on CBSSN.