Feb 6, 2025
Quinerly
MORGANTOWN — This is the other guys … and gals.
Not the opponents that West Virginia’s men’s and women’s basketball teams play, although they have their own stories to tell.
The men’s and the women’s teams here each have true stars upon which they look to for direction in the men’s Javon Small and the women’s JJ Quinerly, each a candidate for national Player of the Year.
Day in and day out, they do their thing and because of it, both teams seem headed for the NCAA Tournament.
But the spotlight on Wednesday as WVU was dropping a road decision to TCU that it should have won and when the women were keeping their home record clean with a decisive victory over Kansas, switched away from the two stars to their supporting casts.
With the men learning that senior guard Tucker DeVries, who was going to be the ying to Small’s yang, is out for the season and had shoulder surgery that was performed on him, all eyes shifted to Small’s support staff.
And, with the loss, it became more obvious that if this team is to be as special as it has been to date, those around Small have to step it up a notch.
While Small remains the top scorer in the Big 12 and is leading WVU in assists, teams have turned the defensive steam up on him and the points are coming tougher and, to be honest, he hasn’t had much support.
This has been especially true from 3-point range. While Joe Yesufu has stepped up over the past two games and made 7 of 12 3s, the rest of the Mountaineers have hit 9 of 60 over the last four games, which is just 15%.
That breaks down to 7 for 30 for Jonathan Powell, 2 of 16 for Amani Hansberry and 0-8 for Sencire Harris, 0-6 for Toby Okani and 0-1 for KJ Tenner, who has scored one total basket in Big 12 play.
Without any threat from beyond the 3-point line, teams can double up on Small out there or simply lay off the other shooters and keep lanes to drive to the basket clogged.
Considering that in the first eight games of the year Tucker DeVries gave WVU someone who went 26 for 55 for a .476 3-point shooting percentage, you can see just how costly his injury has been to the offense.
“We play with the guys we got. That’s just part of it,” coach DeVries said of missing his son’s offense. “The guys who are out there competing is who we go with.”
The difference between what’s going on with the men and the women is that Mark Kellogg’s ladies’ team has found ways to make up for the lack of offense when Quinerly is going through an off night.
Their pressure defense not only stops opponents from scoring but leads to fast-break baskets off turnovers that make shooting percentage from the field far less important. And, for the most part, WVU has had Jordan Harrison’s ability to drive and score helping Quinerly while there have been others who have had their big moments.
Sydney Shaw has emerged as the complementary scorer that Kellogg has been looking for, having scored 18 points and a career-high 22 points in the last two games, making 7 of 16 shots from 3-point range in the past two games.
“I’ve really liked her lately. She’s been at a different level than I’ve seen her since I’ve been here,” Kellogg said of Shaw. “We challenged her and we haven’t done that since she got here defensively. I thought even at Arizona we lost our way defensively. We wanted to challenge all of them but Sydney a little bit more because I think there is more to her.
“She’s a tough, tough kid and can guard when she wants to and put up some resistance. I know the scoring looks good, but I’m even more proud of what she is doing on the defensive end. I’ve known she was capable of this offensively but she has taken her defense to another level.”
At the same time, Harrison came out of a three-game scoring drought in which she was plagued by fouls that limited her playing time, scoring just 4, 7 and 11 points.
“It definitely boosted my confidence. I was able to be in the game and play. I’d been in foul trouble so it was good to be able to play,” Harrison said after scoring 15 against Kansas.
“I thought Shaw was really good and Jordan got to see the ball go through the hoop, which she really needed,” Kellogg said.
So did WVU, who was able to build a sizable first-half lead even though Quinerly didn’t score in the half.
“JJ was a little frustrated there for a little while but she went from no points to 16 in a short period of time … which we all know she can do,” Kellogg said. “We still need to improve on the offensive end but we’ve held our last two opponents to 37 and 43 points, so you are giving yourself a great chance to win when you are not clicking on all cylinders offensively.”
So do not forget the supporting casts on either of WVU’s basketball teams. Small and Quinerly will get their points and do their thing, but for the team to be effective, everyone has to play the role they are cast into.
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