On Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado, two Big 12 teams clashed in an exciting back-and-forth matchup.
Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes welcomed Darian DeVries and the West Virginia Mountaineers to CU Events Center for the fourth game of the Big 12 regular season. The pair traded blows down the stretch, with Colorado rallying back from a 14-point deficit to take the lead. In the end, West Virginia took charge and advanced to 3-1.
With that, here are three takeaways from the contest.
Here to Stay
While it’s still early in the 2024-25 season, it’s fair to say that West Virginia’s Darian DeVries deserves to be in the running for National Coach of the Year. The former Drake coach has led the West Virginia Mountaineers to a 12-3 start with wins over No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 24 Arizona, No. 7 Kansas, and many more.
The team has hopped into Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament projections as a No. 7 seed after being listed significantly far off of the bubble at the season’s start.
In his six-year career at Drake, DeVries held an overall record of 150-55, good for a career winning percentage of .732. Through his first 15 games in Morgantown, DeVries has done more of the same, with a winning percentage of .800.
Free Throws and Fouls
Two metrics that need to be studied in every Big 12 game, free throws and fouls, took another turn in the spotlight on Sunday. At one point in the contest, Colorado trailed West Virginia by 14 points.
They rallied back in the second half, outscoring West Virginia 41-38 after getting outscored 40-29 in the first half. The difference? Colorado’s aggression in getting to the free throw line. After taking just two shots from the free throw line in the first half of action, the Colorado Buffaloes received 28 attempts from the charity stripe.
The Mountaineers sent the Buffaloes to double bonus ten minutes into the second half. Due to their foul trouble, Darian DeVries’ squad had two players foul out, Eduardo Andre and Sencire Harris, while Amari Hansberry finished his day with four fouls. Javon Small, Joseph Yesufu, and Toby Okani finished with three a piece.
Yesufu Rallies, Colorado Falls
With Colorado desperately fighting back into the contest, West Virginia needed a hero. Insert former Washington State guard Joe Yesufu.
Yesufu provided a major spark for the Mountaineers off the bench, with a season-high 18 points. He made the play of the day with 1:23 on the clock, driving to the hole and converting an and 1 to put the game on ice.
The veteran guard started his collegiate career off at Drake in 2018-19, the first year of the DeVries era with the program. Yesufu played for DeVries for two seasons before transferring to Kansas in 2021-22.
With the loss, Colorado drops to 0-4 in conference play. They’ve dropped games to No. 3 Iowa State, Arizona State, UCF, and now West Virginia. They should have a big opportunity to climb into the win column on Wednesday, hosting the winless Cincinnati Bearcats in a matchup of 0-4 teams.
