Mar 8, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Javon Small (7) watches after shooting a three pointer during the first half against the UCF Knights at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Initial Thoughts on West Virginia's Win Over UCF

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Mar 8, 2025 7:00 PM ET

Saturday evening, the West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the UCF Knights by a 72-65 score, finishing the regular season with a 19-12 (10-10) record.

Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from this evening's game.

Too comfy at the break

Really from the opening tip, the Mountaineers had a firm grasp of this game, at least in the first half, that is. Offensively, they were getting tons of open looks and the ball movement was exactly what Darian DeVries wanted. Defensively, they smothered the Knights and were able to eliminate second chance opportunities.

The energy just wasn't there in the opening minutes of the second half and it had the look of a team that got complacent with a big lead.

Javon Small goes out with a bang

In his final game at the WVU Coliseum, Javon Small loaded up the stat sheet in several ways. He finished the game with 25 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists.

I've only said it a hundred times, but I'll keep saying it until I'm blue in the face - Javon Small is the Big 12 Player of the Year. There is not another player in this conference who means more to his team than Small means to West Virginia. Night in and night out, he's producing at an elite level and that's with all of the attention on him. I don't care that WVU will finish in the middle of the pack; if it weren't for Small, this team would be nowhere near the NCAA Tournament.

More on the second half woes

This has been a bit of a problem this year for WVU. Coming out of the gates really slow in the second half leads to numerous scoring droughts, which then allows teams to get back in the game. They're never going to just run somebody off the floor because of their lack of depth, as evidenced tonight. When they do pull out to a big lead, they need to buckle down defensively to keep that comfortable lead.