--West Virginia jumped out to a big lead in this one and never really looked back beating Robert Morris 87-59. The Mountaineers led this game 30-2 and while it wasn't always clean it was a very good debut for head coach Darian DeVries with a fun brand of basketball and a defense that is aggressive and challenging.
--Again Tucker DeVries was the best player on the floor and he is just very crafty. He is more athletic than he looks and understands how to get position and angles with or without the ball. He had 18 points and did it on 6-13 shooting. He is going to be fun to watch this year.
--Javon Small has some wiggle to him and while he was a little loose with the ball at times still had 5 assists to go along with 15 points on 6-11 shooting. Again, we know who he is at this stage.
--Jonathan Powell has such a sweet stroke and scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting and 3-7 from deep. He had a few rim out on him too so there was a chance for an even bigger game but he is a confident shooter and looks like he is going to become a very good player down the line. Speaking of freshmen, KJ Tenner also looked the part in this game and the Mountaineers have themselves a player there as well. Tenner has a really nice floater, but played with a lot of confidence tonight finishing with 10 points on 4-5 from the floor and most importantly 3 assists with 0 turnovers.
--Amani Hansberry is fun to watch. He finished this game with 9 points and 12 rebounds but is a very good passer for a big and is active. He's not been afraid to let it fly either from deep.
--West Virginia was a little careless with the ball at times in this game but with only 11 turnovers it certainly wasn't a disaster for a first game situation. Did think the team shared the ball well and had 16 assists on 33 made baskets.
--People are going to talk about the offensive end in that 30-2 start, but I was more impressed with the defensive end. West Virginia was challenging everything and really made it difficult for them to even get off a quality look. The Mountaineers were active in passing lanes in this one as well and had a total of eight blocks. I don't know the total but I'd imagine that the Mountaineers had a lot of deflections in this game. However, the one area that West Virginia didn't fare to well was rebounding as the Colonials held a 41-37 edge and had 16 offensive rebounds. The Mountaineers can't allow teams to have that many second opportunities with their size although it didn't hurt them too much in this one with just 12 second chance points.
--Speaking of defense, Sencire Harris is just really fun to watch. He is a really good on the ball defender and while he only scored 4 points, had 3 blocks and a steal while holding Kam Woods to 3-16 from the field. He is very competitive on that end of the floor. Also really like what Toby Okani brings to the table on that end with his versatility.
--West Virginia shot 33-60 from the floor or 55-percent and was at 41-percent from three (14-34) which is very good. But the 58-percent from the line isn't really. That will need to get up ticked but if you're going 50 and 41 it's hard to nitpick. The Mountaineers were at 1.299 points per possession in this one and at one point was over 2.1 insane.
--The Mountaineers were 13-18 on layups and dunks including one from Toby Okani that was highlight reel worthy.
--This was a good opener all around but now onto the next one and cleaning up some of the minor issues here although to be fair this team was in control from start to finish.
