West Virginia Head Coach Darian DeVries
On winning on Jerry West Day
It’s just an incredible day on a day where we get to celebrate his legacy. Not only for West Virginia basketball but for the sport itself. To have so many of his family and loved ones here and to be a part of this, I think you can only assume that he had a little helping hand in this one tonight.
On tonight’s wins influence on the program
I think that’s obviously a big win for us and our program. I think the world of Iowa State. Incredibly well-coached, great team. Like I said before the game, I think they are one of the best teams in the country and have a chance to play on that last day. I just thought overall, I was really proud of our guys (and) their fight tonight. On a night where both teams couldn’t get a lot going offensively, I thought both teams battled extremely hard and obviously incredibly pleased that we were able to come out and make enough plays at the end there to come away with the big win.
On keeping a team who is averaging 85 points 27 points below their average
You know I thought our guys really competed defensively. I thought they were very physical on the ball trying to get through screens and trying not to give them a lot of space to operate because they are incredibly talented. They can hit you in transition at any moment with live ball turnovers. I thought that might have been the big reason we were able to slow them down because we didn’t turn it over a lot and that is where they are elite. When they get live ball turnovers, and they are north to south they get to the rim in a hurry. We were able to limit that for the most part tonight to keep them from doing that so that was a big part of it.
How the team adapted for Iowa State senior guard Curtis Jones
Curtis (Jones) is hard cause he’s such a talented player. I thought we did a good job of not giving him a lot of open threes, and to be fair, the one mistake we made, he hit it. I think that says a lot about him. We put a lot of focus on him not getting a lot of space. He still got 18 (points), that’s how good he is. He got into the paint area, but a lot of his (shots) were pull-ups and some things we’re willing to live with. If they are getting those instead of layups instead of threes, that was a better alternative for us.
Iowa State Head Coach TJ Otzelberger
Opening Statement
First of all, huge credit to West Virginia and their program. Coach (Darian) DeVries is doing a fantastic job. How hard his team plays for him is a credit to him and his coaching staff. What a terrific job he’s done in the first year, and he’s done it even with his son Tucker going out, and they’ve had to completely readjust their team. Much respect and credit goes to them before I even talk about the game. They did a terrific job and we knew we had to play at our best, and unfortunately, we didn’t, and they had a lot to do with it. As far as down the stretch, I felt like we had plays and opportunities that we normally convert. Unfortunately, we were unable to. The crowd, the environment, and the atmosphere when you’re not converting those plays take a little bit of the wind out of your sails. Defensively, we weren’t quite what we needed to be to get stops. That last media timeout, we talked all about it (how it) was going to be about getting stops, finishing plays on the glass, generating turnovers, and that’s where they really put their foot on the gas and scored the basketball. The opposite of what we hoped. All the credit goes to their team, coach DeVries, their staff and their players, they were terrific. They deserve all the credit.
On the atmosphere inside of the WVU Coliseum
I think for any place, it starts with having a good team. You’re not going to, regardless of the fan support and the energy of the building and all of those sorts of things. They were certainly present, but you have to also have a really good team. You have to play well, and their team plays with tremendous spirit. Very competitive, and so I’m not one that looks a whole lot at what’s happened in the past. Because that didn’t really have anything to do with the guys on my team, they hadn’t been here for all that. But, again a good team and a good atmosphere, and those two things were working together for them today.
On West Virginia’s defense
They did a great job pressuring the basketball, and they helped all over the court to kind of congest the paint. We got in the potion where you know when you’re not feeling great about that shot and you’re not in the rhythm, it starts to be on your mind more. So, we had some opportunities, I thought we had good looks in the first half. It didn’t go our way, and then those just get a little heavier as the game goes on. So, again I’m not somebody who looks at it as make or miss. They dictated with ball pressure and we didn’t do a good enough job moving the basketball to get the rhythm shots that we would’ve liked. So, I view that as more of a credit to their defensive intensity than us just missing shots.
West Virginia vs. No. 2 Iowa State Post Game Quotes
by WV THE TORCH • Recent Posts 0 Comments
West Virginia Head Coach Darian DeVries
On winning on Jerry West Day
It’s just an incredible day on a day where we get to celebrate his legacy. Not only for West Virginia basketball but for the sport itself. To have so many of his family and loved ones here and to be a part of this, I think you can only assume that he had a little helping hand in this one tonight.
On tonight’s wins influence on the program
I think that’s obviously a big win for us and our program. I think the world of Iowa State. Incredibly well-coached, great team. Like I said before the game, I think they are one of the best teams in the country and have a chance to play on that last day. I just thought overall, I was really proud of our guys (and) their fight tonight. On a night where both teams couldn’t get a lot going offensively, I thought both teams battled extremely hard and obviously incredibly pleased that we were able to come out and make enough plays at the end there to come away with the big win.
On keeping a team who is averaging 85 points 27 points below their average
You know I thought our guys really competed defensively. I thought they were very physical on the ball trying to get through screens and trying not to give them a lot of space to operate because they are incredibly talented. They can hit you in transition at any moment with live ball turnovers. I thought that might have been the big reason we were able to slow them down because we didn’t turn it over a lot and that is where they are elite. When they get live ball turnovers, and they are north to south they get to the rim in a hurry. We were able to limit that for the most part tonight to keep them from doing that so that was a big part of it.
How the team adapted for Iowa State senior guard Curtis Jones
Curtis (Jones) is hard cause he’s such a talented player. I thought we did a good job of not giving him a lot of open threes, and to be fair, the one mistake we made, he hit it. I think that says a lot about him. We put a lot of focus on him not getting a lot of space. He still got 18 (points), that’s how good he is. He got into the paint area, but a lot of his (shots) were pull-ups and some things we’re willing to live with. If they are getting those instead of layups instead of threes, that was a better alternative for us.
Iowa State Head Coach TJ Otzelberger
Opening Statement
First of all, huge credit to West Virginia and their program. Coach (Darian) DeVries is doing a fantastic job. How hard his team plays for him is a credit to him and his coaching staff. What a terrific job he’s done in the first year, and he’s done it even with his son Tucker going out, and they’ve had to completely readjust their team. Much respect and credit goes to them before I even talk about the game. They did a terrific job and we knew we had to play at our best, and unfortunately, we didn’t, and they had a lot to do with it. As far as down the stretch, I felt like we had plays and opportunities that we normally convert. Unfortunately, we were unable to. The crowd, the environment, and the atmosphere when you’re not converting those plays take a little bit of the wind out of your sails. Defensively, we weren’t quite what we needed to be to get stops. That last media timeout, we talked all about it (how it) was going to be about getting stops, finishing plays on the glass, generating turnovers, and that’s where they really put their foot on the gas and scored the basketball. The opposite of what we hoped. All the credit goes to their team, coach DeVries, their staff and their players, they were terrific. They deserve all the credit.
On the atmosphere inside of the WVU Coliseum
I think for any place, it starts with having a good team. You’re not going to, regardless of the fan support and the energy of the building and all of those sorts of things. They were certainly present, but you have to also have a really good team. You have to play well, and their team plays with tremendous spirit. Very competitive, and so I’m not one that looks a whole lot at what’s happened in the past. Because that didn’t really have anything to do with the guys on my team, they hadn’t been here for all that. But, again a good team and a good atmosphere, and those two things were working together for them today.
On West Virginia’s defense
They did a great job pressuring the basketball, and they helped all over the court to kind of congest the paint. We got in the potion where you know when you’re not feeling great about that shot and you’re not in the rhythm, it starts to be on your mind more. So, we had some opportunities, I thought we had good looks in the first half. It didn’t go our way, and then those just get a little heavier as the game goes on. So, again I’m not somebody who looks at it as make or miss. They dictated with ball pressure and we didn’t do a good enough job moving the basketball to get the rhythm shots that we would’ve liked. So, I view that as more of a credit to their defensive intensity than us just missing shots.