West Virginia, UMass strive to build on opening performances
West Virginia and UMass will both try to raise their records to 2-0 when they meet in a nonconference matchup Friday night in Morgantown, W. Va.
West Virginia opened its season with an 87-59 victory over Robert Morris on Monday. The Mountaineers scored the game's first 21 points and led 30-2 after eight minutes.
It was the first game for Darian DeVries as West Virginia's head coach. DeVries spent the past six seasons at Drake, where his teams went 150-55 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times.
"Your first win is always kind of special and something you always kind of hang on to and remember," DeVries said. "I told the guys I'd like it not to be the last one.
"Our start was about as good as we could've scripted it. We were aggressive defensively, and offensively, we were sharp and got clean looks from different guys. That 8-to-10 minutes was the way we want it to look. That extra 30 minutes is where we have to clean it up a bit."
Tucker DeVries, a three-year standout at Drake who followed his father to West Virginia, tossed in a game-high 18 points in the victory. DeVries was a two-time player of the year in the Missouri Valley Conference who averaged 21.6 points per game last season.
UMass kicked off its season with a 103-74 triumph over New Hampshire on Monday. Junior guard Rahsool Diggins led the offense with 26 points and knocked down eight of his 16 3-point attempts.
Diggins began his career at UConn and shared the Atlantic 10 Most Improved Player Award last season, when he averaged 12.8 points per game.
"I'm excited because (Diggins) had a great, great summer, a great preseason and he had his best practice of the year two days ago," UMass coach Frank Martin said. "And it translated to the game. We're still trying to figure out our spacing offensively to be able to get more separation for him, because if he sees the rim and his feet are down, that thing is going in nine times out of 10."
