Following the Mountaineers’ 83-76 overtime victory over the No. 24-ranked University of Arizona Friday, senior guard/forward Tucker DeVries and fifth-year guard Toby Okani discussed the team’s performance throughout the tournament. The team finished in third place in the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
WVU played three games in three days, all of which went to overtime. DeVries said the group “stuck together” and played with grit.
“Think our entire team had a ton of grit this week. Three overtime games in three days, guys playing a lot of minutes, and I thought as a whole, our group just stuck together,” DeVries said.
DeVries said the team focused on the game rather than on how tired they were heading into overtime against Arizona.
“Going to the overtimes, you’re not really thinking much about how tired you are. I think the team that gives in the quickest and thinks about how tired they are is going to fold, and I thought our group just stuck with it and just continued to focus on the next play,” he said. “That’s ultimately what kind of got us over the hump in this last one.”
Okani finished with 20 points and five rebounds against Arizona. He said the coaches had him focused on playing his hardest.
“The coaches had me prepared. Coach [Darian] DeVries had me the last few weeks focusing on just rebounding and playing my hardest, so that’s exactly what I did,” Okani said.
Okani said he felt that the team was confident heading into overtime because of its experience in overtime play in its previous two matches.
“I feel that we’re the team that was ready for the overtime. We played two overtime games, and I feel that we went in there confident that they just gave us an extra five minutes to prove that we should win the game,” he said.
Tucker DeVries led the Mountaineers in scoring with 26 points, making eight three-pointers. Tucker DeVries said he does not think about how deep his three-point shots are but rather looks for open-shot opportunities.
“I’ve seen when I go back and watch it but honestly, just not really thinking much about it. Just kind of playing my game and finding the spots to find open ones,” he said.
WVU Men’s Basketball will face off against Georgetown University at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at the WVU Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and can be heard live on U92 The Moose.
