WVU Basketball Wins First Foreign Tour Game, DeVries Reacts

WVU basketball opened its first of three foreign tour games on Saturday, defeating BC Zalgiris Kaunas 78-53 in Italy. The Mountaineers were highlighted by forward Amani Hansberry, who recorded a double-double.

West Virginia led 73-29 at the end of the third quarter but allowed a 24-5 run once the main rotation was taken off the floor.

“It was great for us to get out there and play somebody else. It’s been a good summer but I know our guys were excited to get out there and play together. We got off to a little bit of a slow start as we expected, with the travel and things,” WVU HC Darian DeVries said. “The second quarter and third quarter, I thought our guys played really well. We got the ball moving, the defensive intensity picked up. Had some really good ball movement as well. I think we got up 73-29 and then we were able to pull the top six, seven, eight guys off.”

“All-around, it was great. A lot of guys got good minutes, good time, good experience. Very happy with the way we came out and approached it,” DeVries added.

🎥 Hear from @Coach_DeVries following today’s win in Italy pic.twitter.com/KgA5uTkopx

— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) August 3, 2024

The starting five consisted of Javon Small, Jayden Stone, Toby Okani, Tucker DeVries and Hansberry.

The rest of the foreign tour schedule is listed below:

Date                             Opponent                               Location              Time
Tuesday, Aug. 6           vs. Orange1 Bassano                Florence, Italy       Noon ET
Thursday, Aug. 8          vs. Stella#EBK                         Rome, Italy            Noon ET

There was not a way to stream the game but the program did open practice to the media a couple of weeks ago. Click here to watch some practice clips from that day.

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