Men's College Basketball
Preview
West Virginia at Colorado
When: 3:00 PM ET, Sunday, January 12, 2025
Where: CU Events Center, Boulder, Colorado

West Virginia has a daunting schedule ahead featuring two ranked teams, but first the No. 21 Mountaineers face a challenging road test from Colorado on Sunday at Boulder, Colo.

West Virginia (11-3, 2-1 Big 12) is coming off a 75-56 home loss to Arizona that might serve as a lesson for their date with the unranked Buffaloes. The Mountaineers defeated then-No. 7 Kansas on the road and easily got by Oklahoma State at home before they were crushed by Arizona.

Now they face Colorado, which has dropped its first three conference games and has been strong at home. The Buffaloes (9-5, 0-3) won their first eight games on their court before falling to No. 3 Iowa State on Dec. 30.

West Virginia is dealing with injuries to key players. Tucker DeVries, Jayden Stone and KJ Tenner missed the loss to Arizona and Amani Hansberry was limited in the game. Their status for Sunday's game has not been announced and coach Darian DeVries is planning for different scenarios.

"It does take some of the (practice) reps away when you have to get multiple guys ready at multiple positions, but it's something you have to do to get everybody ready," Darian DeVries said. "It's something we've been doing, and we will continue to do. We'll adjust with the lineup we have available on game day."

Javon Small (19.4 points a game) leads the Mountaineers in scoring followed by Tucker DeVries (14.9) and Hansberry (10.1). Stone has yet to play this season.

The Buffaloes are coming off a tough 75-74 loss at UCF on Wednesday and are searching for answers three games into their return to the Big 12.

At Arizona State last week, Colorado couldn't recover from a slow start and mounting turnovers, leading to a last-second miss in the loss to the Knights.

"I think each individual player on the team has to become more prideful of that part of the stat sheet," Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle said of 22 turnovers on Wednesday night. "Whether it's completing passes, footwork and traveling, not leaving your feet to pass the ball -- which you can't do in this league, especially if you're a guard. "

Leading scorer Julian Hammond III, who is scoring a team-best 13.6 points a game, had a career-high 26 against UCF. Colorado doesn't have much turnaround time now in a stacked Big 12.

"We've got to come into that next game with a mentality that we're 0-3 and we have to win," Hammond said. "You don't want to say any game is a must-win, but when you start that bad in the league you've got to start climbing up. We need to win these next few games, especially at home, no matter who the opponent is."

The Buffaloes average 74.9 points a game despite having just three players scoring in double figures. After Hammond, Andrej Jakimovski is averaging 11.4 points a game and Elijah Malone is at 10.9.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Neutral Day Night Conf
West Virginia 11-3 L1 8-1 1-1 2-1 5-1 6-2 3-1
Colorado 9-5 L3 8-1 0-2 1-2 3-3 6-2 0-4
Last Meeting
West Virginia Colorado
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
No previous meeting.
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
West Virginia N/A
Colorado N/A
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
West Virginia N/A
Colorado N/A
Assists Player  
West Virginia N/A
Colorado N/A
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
West Virginia J. Small 271 43.6 67
Colorado J. Hammond III 191 46.4 35
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
West Virginia A. Hansberry 79 29 50
Colorado T. Baskin 87 29 58
Assists Player  
West Virginia J. Small 68
Colorado J. Hammond III 50
Quickchart Matchup
blue bar West Virginia Off vs  red bar Colorado Defense
blue bar 74.2 Points For
red bar 70.5 Points Against
blue bar 43.5 FG%
red bar 42.0 FG%
blue bar 33.1 Reb
red bar 29.1 Reb
red bar Colorado Off vs  blue bar West Virginia Defense
red bar 74.9 Points For
blue bar 63.4 Points Against
red bar 46.5 FG%
blue bar 38.2 FG%
red bar 33.9 Reb
blue bar 33.8 Reb