WVU HC Darian DeVries Reacts to Exhibition Win

WVU HC Darian DeVries met with the media following his team’s exhibition win over the University of Charleston on Friday night.

This marked the first time that the Mountaineers could showcase their new-look team under DeVries.

“I liked our energy. I thought it was really good. I thought offensively we had great ball movement. Very connected in our cutting. Those types of things. Very unselfish. All things I was very pleased with. That first timeout, a lot of times you can see some crazy stuff, but I thought our guys played very much within themselves. They shared the ball.

“I thought defensively, especially in that first half, I thought we had great on-ball toughness. We got a lot of hands-on balls, and our activity was good. It slipped a little bit as the game went on, but I thought that was very encouraging, as well. Overall, very pleased with the effort from the guys. Plenty of things there that were positive. I think the biggest negative was probably a little bit in the second half defensively. I thought they got in the paint a little too easily.

“Then, the offensive rebounding, you know, we got to do a better job of boxing out and getting bodies on guys and just being more physical in general. That’s something we’ve been talking about a lot. It was good to get it on film now, so there is a little more reinforcement. I think we’re going to be a good rebounding team. We just have to get in those habits a little bit better.”

Postgame Reaction After WVU Basketball Opened New Era with Exhibition Win

West Virginia opens up the 2024-25 season against Robert Morris on Nov. 4. WVU will also have a closed scrimmage with a high-major team next weekend.