WVU Men’s Basketball Takes Game One in Italy
GENOA, Italy (August 3, 2024) – The West Virginia University men’s basketball team began its tour of Italy with a 78-53 victory over BC Zalgiris Kaunas-2, a club team from Lithuania.
The Mountaineers jumped out to a 46-25 halftime lead after shooting 51.9% from the field in the first half. After three quarters, WVU led 73-29 before coach Darian DeVries emptied the bench. The game was played under international rules with four 10-minute quarters and a 24-second shot clock.
“It was great for us to go out and play someone else,” DeVries said. “It’s been a good summer, and I know our guys were excited to get out there and play. We got off to a slow start and that was to be expected with the travel and things, but I thought in the second and third quarters, we played really well. We got the ball moving and our defensive intensity picked up.”
Amani Hansberry was one of three Mountaineers in double figures. The sophomore from Silver Spring, Maryland, finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Eduardo Andre finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three blocks, while Sencire Harris had 11 points, including shooting 2-of-2 from 3-point range.
Javon Small scored seven of WVU’s first nine points and finished with nine points and four steals. Jonathan Powell hit two 3-point field goals and finished with eight points. Toby Okani and Tucker DeVries finished with seven points, while Jayden Stone (five points), Ofri Naveh (three points) and Jake Auer (two points) rounded out WVU’s scoring.
West Virginia went with a starting lineup of Small, Stone, Okani, DeVries and Hansberry.
For the game, West Virginia shot 28-of-66 (42%) from the field, made seven 3-point field goals, had 22 steals and blocked 10 shots. The Mountaineers recorded 40 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive glass.
“All-around, it was great,” DeVries added. “A lot of guys got good minutes, got good time and experience. I’m very happy with the way we came out and approached it.”
On Sunday, the Mountaineers will travel to Florence, Italy. WVU’s next game will take place on Tuesday against Orange1 Bassano at noon ET in Florence.
