Quick Hits: DeVries Highlights Challenges vs. Kansas, Provides Injury Update + More

Darian DeVries previews Tuesday's clash with the Kansas Jayhawks.

West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Big 12 Conference play is officially here and there's no better welcome to the league for West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries than playing at Kansas in the league opener.

Monday morning, DeVries met with the reporters to preview the matchup with the Jayhawks.

The focus coming out of the Christmas break

“I think for us, it’s like we always talk about, focusing on ourselves and getting ready for the opponent these last couple days. What does Kansas do well offensively? Defensively? What do we got to do to try and attack both ends of the floor?”

What Kansas does offensively

“There’s a lot of ways they can hurt you because they do have such great balance. They do have very efficient three-point shooting, and they live in the paint with post-ups and different actions to drive it. They put you in a tough spot regardless.”

Injury update

“Pretty much all of those guys are the same as they were when we left. We’ve got today’s practice and tomorrow’s shootaround to kind of determine where everybody’s at.”

Mindset when playing a program as storied as Kansas

“Our approach is the same no matter who we play. We want to put the best version of ourselves out there every night, whether we’re playing Kansas or whoever it may be. Our goal is to go there, play the best forty minutes we possibly can, and do whatever we need to do to try to come away with a win. That’s the only focus we can have.”

If he talks to his team about NCAA Tournament chances

“That’s not something we discuss right now. There’s so many games left, and conference play is coming up. The one thing we did talk to our team about is you have different portions of the season. Non-conference play is one of them, and to be in a position like we’ve talked about, to have some good wins, some quality wins, to be where you need to be in the NET, those are important things. But none of that means anything if you don’t line up in conference play and put yourself in position from a conference standpoint in conference wins, quality wins…you got to continue to stack those up. There’s so many games left that it doesn’t really matter a whole lot.”

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