West Virginia, with new look, tests mettle vs. Robert Morris

A new era for West Virginia basketball will open Monday night when the Mountaineers host Robert Morris in Morgantown, W.Va.

Darian DeVries has taken over the West Virginia program after leading Drake to five consecutive 20-win seasons. Last year, West Virginia finished 9-23 overall and 4-14 in the Big 12 Conference under interim coach Josh Eilert.

The Mountaineers have 14 new players.

Tucker DeVries, a Drake transfer who was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and is the coach's son, headlines a solid group of transfers. That list includes Javon Small from Oklahoma State and high-scoring Detroit Mercy guard Jayden Stone.

Some of the key transfers expected to give West Virginia a boost include Amani Hansberry (Illinois), Sencire Harris (Illinois), Joseph Yesufu (Washington State), and Eduardo Andre (Fresno State).

Darian DeVries also had a solid recruiting class with Ohio Mr. Basketball Jonathan Powell and Tennessee Mr. Basketball KJ Tenner.

"In our case, we've got a lot of new guys, and the hardest thing for every team is you've got to learn how to win together, and how do you do that?" DeVries said. "It's not always hitting 18 3s every night, so you have to figure out how to win on a night when you are 2-for-15 and getting some tough calls and you're on the road. How do you find a way to win those games? Right now, it's just me giving them bad calls in practice."

The Mountaineers recently were picked to finish 13th in this year's Big 12 preseason poll. The game against Robert Morris will be a solid challenge, but DeVries has tempered the expectations.

Robert Morris finished 10-22 overall and 6-14 in the Horizon League last season. The Colonials are picked to finish ninth out of 11 teams in the conference.

Robert Morris has retooled the offense with several notable transfers. That list includes Josh Omojafo, who averaged 20 points for Gannon last season, DJ Smith from Bowling Green, and Kam Woods, who was part of North Carolina State's Final Four team last season.

The top returning players are guard Justice Williams and forwards Chris Ford, Alvaro Folgueiras and Antallah Sandlin-El, who redshirted his true freshman season.

"As we round out our roster for the 2024-25 season, there were a number of areas we felt we needed to improve upon, beginning with our ability to guard the basketball," Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole said. "We wanted to find some guys that were athletic, aggressive and committed to the defensive side of the floor as well as guys that can create an advantage offensively -- those were our No. 1 priorities."

--Field Level Media