Amir Jenkins’ Defense Was the Secret Weapon in West Virginia’s Big Win Over Cincinnati

One of the unsung heroes in West Virginia's win over Cincinnati is true freshman guard Amir Jenkins.

Honor Huff made things happen on the offensive end, and fellow true freshman DJ Thomas knocked down some shots to score 10 points in the second half, so, understandably, those two get all of the attention.

The work Jenkins did defensively isn't going to necessarily jump out at you on the stat sheet until you look a little deeper. The Bearcats hit 40% of their shots in the first half, which is still a relatively low number. In the second half, though? That number plummeted to an ugly 30.4%, and his pressure had a lot to do with it.

Feb 5, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Amir Jenkins (2) steals the ball away from Cincinnati Bearcats guard Jizzle James (2) and forward Jalen Celestine (32) in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

“I thought the game changed on Amir’s defensive activity and his ball pressure in that stretch," WVU head coach Ross Hodge said in his postgame presser. "It was awesome to see. That was the best defensive game that Amir has played since he’s been in a Mountaineer uniform. I thought his point of attack defense, the effort, the activity, getting deflections, getting long rebounds during that course, is what changed the game. Your point of attack defense is so important. Jasper (Floyd) is experienced at it, and he’s probably one of the best on-ball defenders in our league and in the country, and Amir is a great learner and listener, and he kind of picked up that slack in the second half. He was tremendous.”

Jenkins finished the game with a defensive rating of 101.2, the second-best mark of anyone in Gold last night who played 20 or more minutes. Jasper Floyd, to no surprise, was the leader in the clubhouse at 89.2. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the rating, the lower, the better. Sub 100 is elite. He also had a stop percentage of 64.6, which estimates the rate of defensive possessions where the opposing team did not score. Just a really impressive performance from the freshman, who should be in high school right now.

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