MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — First-year West Virginia men’s basketball head coach Darian DeVries wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Mountaineers in Friday’s exhibition against University of Charleston.
DeVries quickly found out his team is more connected than perhaps he anticipated on both ends of the floor, but plenty of work remains to shore up the rebounding.
The Mountaineers scored 17 of the game’s first 20 points to take control early against the Golden Eagles, settled for a 21-point halftime lead and claimed a 94-61 victory in the first WVU Coliseum experience for DeVries, his staff and essentially an entirely new roster that has one scholarship holdover.
“I liked our energy. That was really good,” said DeVries, who was hired in March following a successful six-season stint at Drake. “We had great ball movement and we were very connected in our cutting and very unselfish. All things I was really pleased with. First time out, a lot of times you can see some crazy stuff, but our guys played within themselves and shared the ball.
“Defensively, we had great on-ball toughness, especially in the first half. We got deflections and got our hands on balls. It slipped a bit as the game went on.”
With a starting five of players in their first year with the Mountaineers — guards Javon Small and Sencire Harris, forwards Tucker DeVries and Toby Okani and center Amani Hansberry — the Mountaineers came out looking much like a group eager to play another opponent.
WVU took a 9-3 lead into the first media timeout, and came out of that with an 8-0 spurt that featured DeVries’ paint bucket, Eduardo Andre’s conventional three-point play and Small’s three-pointer for a 14-point lead.
“Every time you go out there for the first time, it’s going to be sloppy,” Tucker DeVries said. “The first 8 minutes were probably our best 8 minutes. These games can be a little hard. You’re trying to figure out rotations and it’s just different from what you see in practice every day. For the first game, I thought it was a step in the right direction.”
Charleston, led by first-year head coach James Long, a former WVU player and video coordinator, settled in some offensively and stuck with the Mountaineers for the next 10 minutes. The Golden Eagles got a triple from Keaton Turner 4:28 before halftime to trail 41-24, though the Mountaineers countered with a 9-3 run that concluded with close range buckets from reserve guards Joseph Yesufu and Jayden Stone.
UC 7-footer Zach Loveday, who previously played at Baylor and Samford, scored inside for the final points of the first half to make it 50-29 Mountaineers at the break.
All five WVU starters were among nine Mountaineers to score in the first half, with Small’s 11 points leading the way. DeVries followed with nine, Hansberry added seven and freshman swingman Jonathan Powell came off the bench and drained a pair of threes.
“The freshmen did some nice things and settled in nicely,” coach DeVries said. “Overall, the guys did a good job handling that situation.”
The Mountaineers’ most glaring negative at the intermission was an 18-16 rebounding deficit.
“We played together and shared the ball for the most part,” Small said. ”Defensively, we were connected, but we have to take care of the glass.”
Charleston’s Matthew Shelton threw down a highlight-worthy dunk 3 minutes into the second half that cut UC’s deficit to 56-35, but the Golden Eagles never got closer than what the halftime margin was over the final 20 minutes.
DeVries scored on a fallaway in the point to leave WVU with a 69-42 lead just before the midway point of the second half, and the Mountaineers’ largest lead of the night came following their final basket — a triple from freshman guard KJ Tenner that made it 94-59 with 1:15 remaining.
WVU shot 34 for 72 and was much more efficient in the opening half when it made 18-of-34 shots. That was greatly impacted by three-point shooting, with WVU making 7 of 16 from long range through 20 minutes, but finishing 11 for 33.
The Mountaineers had only seven turnovers, one of which was a shot clock violation they intentionally took in the game’s final seconds.
“The guys did a nice job taking care of it, especially for the first game,” coach DeVries said. “They moved it well and shared it well.”
DeVries’ 18 points led all players and came on 7-for-13 shooting. Small finished with 11 and was scoreless in the second half while playing only 4-plus minutes as he battled cramps.
Hansberry and Powell also scored 11 apiece, with the latter making a team-high three treys.
Andre added seven points and a game-high eight boards as WVU battled back to narrowly win the rebounding battle, 38-34.
“Two things we try and hang our hat on are no turnovers and defensive rebounding,” Tucker DeVries said. “One category we were great, one category we sucked.”
Former Spring Valley High School standout and Marshall transfer CJ Meredith led Charleston with 13 points. Shelton and Obinna Ugwuakazi added 11 apiece in defeat and Turner scored 10. Loveday’s seven boards led UC.
The Golden Eagles turned it over 22 times with 11 in each half.
“The biggest negative was a little bit of the second half defensively,” coach DeVries said. “They got into the paint a little too easily, and the offensive rebounding. We have to do a better job of getting bodies on bodies and being physical.
“I think we’re going to be a good rebounding team. We just have to get those habits a bit better.”
