What Darian DeVries Said Following the Win Over Cincinnati

West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries Cincinnati postgame quick hits

West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Darian DeVries applauds his defense in the first half of the NCAA basketball game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The West Virginia Mountaineers (14-7, 5-5) handled the Cincinnati Bearcats (12-9, 2-8) Sunday afternoon 63-50.

West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries met with the media following the game to give his thoughts on the win.

Overall thoughts on the win

We’ve been struggling the last couple of games [shooting], so you go 9-18 that certainly helps as well. I though Joe came in and gave us a huge spark off the bench. He gave us that other scorer that we haven’t had as consistent the last few games, but overall, I thought it was a great team effort.

West Virginia outscoring Cincinnati in the paint 18-4 in the first half

A lot of that was coming just off some of our curl actions and ball screens where we were able to get downhill a little bit and were able to get the rollers on the backside. So, I thought the guards did a nice job of reading it and then making the plays for our bigs to finish down there.

Ending a three-game losing streak

Both of us have been coming through a tough stretch here. I thought both teams knew it was an important game and both came out and competed. I thought we made some opportunities tonight that we hadn’t maybe converted on recently and guys were able to knock down some shots. I thought that was a big factor, at least from our end, that we were able to make shots and opened up our offense a little bit.

Holding Cincinnati to 31.5% from the field

For us, it has to be our defense, everything starts and ends there, and we just really feel like when we’re really active defensively and giving that max effort on every possession, then a lot of good things will happen. Even when you maybe make a mistake, guys cover for one another and play off one another and they have a connectivity about them and that leads to better offense. I really believe that. When you’re that connected defensively then offensively you can go make plays and play unselfishly and I think they really tied in together.