The Darian DeVries era and the 2024-2025 season began on Monday with an 87-59 win over Robert Morris.
WVU got off to a hot start early, taking a big lead and never wavered. Their defensive effort was strong. They forced 14 Colonial turnovers in the contest, had 10 steals and eight blocks, while holding RMU to under 33% shooting in the victory.
Five Mountaineers ended in double figures. Tucker DeVries led the charge with 18 points, Javon Small had 15, Toby Okani 13, Jonathan Powell 11 and KJ Tenner 10.
DeVries made his presence known early. After Robert Morris won the tip, WVU picked up a steal that led to a DeVries three.
On RMU’s next possession, DeVries stole it himself and proceeded to slam it. After yet another Mountaineer steal, DeVries hit another three, making the game 8-0 early and forcing Robert Morris to call a timeout after another possession.
West Virginia continued to capitalize on Colonial turnovers. They started off the game with a 21-0 run, 14 of those points coming off six RMU turnovers.
Starting around the U12 media timeout, Robert Morris began to crawl back. They went on a 9-0 run, while West Virginia was 0-4 in field goal attempts and had three turnovers in just over four minutes making the game 30-11 Mountaineers.
Under six minutes in the first half, West Virginia quickly created another run of their own. They scored 11 unanswered, shooting four of four before the next Colonial score.
Robert Morris responded, however, going on a 7-0 run while WVU had a scoring drought while the first half winded down. The Mountaineers got one before time officially expired, but was one of seven shooting in the first 20.
At halftime, WVU led 46-26. The story of the first half was turnovers, the Colonials had a plethora of turnovers early that West Virginia capitalized on.
After a longer-than-expected halftime due to the shot clock being replaced on one of the baskets, West Virginia continued to maintain their lead. By the U12 timeout, they led 64-42, shooting close to 67% from the field at that point.
As West Virginia led 82-58 with 2:45 left to go, they started bringing in guys from the bench.
In the end, WVU held onto their comfortable lead from the early stages and defeated Robert Morris in the season opener.
The Mountaineers will host UMass on Friday at 7 p.m. EST in their next contest.
