MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia tips off its 116^th season of men's basketball and coach Darian DeVries' first at the helm on Monday, Nov. 5, when the Mountaineers face Robert Morris of the Horizon League.
 
WVU, under DeVries, has almost an entirely rebuilt roster following last year's 9-23 mark that saw the Mountaineers finish tied for 13^th in the 14-team Big 12 Conference. The summer additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah have brought the league to 16 teams, and West Virginia was picked to finish 13^th ahead of Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma State.
 
"We're ready and we're excited to play," DeVries, who is expecting about a dozen family members and friends at Monday's opener, said Friday afternoon.
 
West Virginia is the only team in the country that has two players on the same team who averaged more than 20 points per game last year – guard Tucker DeVries, who scored 21.6 points per game at Drake, and guard Jayden Stone, who put up 20.8 points per game at Detroit Mercy.
 
However, DeVries said on Friday that Stone will be unavailable for Monday's opener because of an unspecified injury sustained during practice.
 
"Jayden Stone will be out for a period of time, and we'll see how long that is with kind of an upper-body injury," DeVries said. "That will be kind of day to day moving forward."
 
Another key offseason pickup, Oklahoma State transfer Javon Small, was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention pick last year for the Cowboys after averaging 15.1 points per game.
 
Forward Ofri Naveh and two-sport performer Aden Tagaloa-Nelson are the only returning players from last year's squad.
 
The Mountaineers used a starting lineup consisting Small, DeVries, Sencire Harris, Toby Okani and Amani Hansberry in their 94-61 exhibition game victory over Charleston at the Coliseum on Friday, Oct. 18.
 
DeVries led all double-figure scorers with 18 points, while Hansberry, Small and freshman guard Jonathan Powell chipped in with 11 each.
 
Hansberry and Harris are Illinois transfers while Okani played at Illinois-Chicago last season.
 
WVU faced Wake Forest in a closed scrimmage in Beckley last Friday, and although no information was revealed publicly, DeVries admitted earlier this week during his radio show at Kegler's Sports Bar and Grill that he was pleased with his team's performance.
 
"After our second scrimmage, it was kind of a longer practice week and we really focused on us, and now it's a lot of game prep. It's the first time we're really into game-prep mode," DeVries said.
 
The Colonials, picked ninth in the 11-team Horizon in its preseason media poll, lost 87-73 at Villanova in their charity exhibition tune-up on Sunday, Oct. 27, at Finneran Pavilion.
 
Josh Omojafo, a 6-foot-5 transfer from Division II Gannon where he earned second team All-America honors, led RMU with 15. Omojafo made five of his nine field goal attempts against Villanova and was the second-leading scorer in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference last year after averaging 20 points per game.
 
Kam Woods, a 6-foot-2 NC State transfer, tallied 11, as did Alvaro Folgueiras, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward who started the team's final six games last year and spent time last summer playing for Spain's U20 team.
 
Woods appeared in 13 games for the Wolfpack last season after averaging 17.3 points per game as a sophomore at North Carolina A&T.
 
Penn graduate Andy Toole is in his 16^th season at Robert Morris where he owns a 226-222 overall record.
 
"They have a ton of new faces, just like we do," DeVries said. "I thought it was a very competitive game (against Villanova), and they present some challenges that we're going to have to prepare for and be ready for. Every night you've got to be ready to play."
 
The Robert Morris opener begins one of the most difficult schedules in school history. The Mountaineers could be playing at least seven games against teams ranked in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25, and potentially even more depending upon whom they face in the Bahamas in late November.
 
West Virginia is guaranteed a meeting against No. 6 Gonzaga in the Bahamas on Wednesday, Nov. 27.
 
WVU also has challenging nonconference tilts against Massachusetts at the WVU Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 8, at rival Pitt on Friday, Nov. 15 and a Big 12-Big East Battle against Georgetown at the Coliseum on Friday, Dec. 6.
 
Conference foes Kansas (No. 1), Houston (No. 4), Iowa State (No. 5), Baylor (No. 8), Arizona (No. 10) and Cincinnati (No. 20) are ranked in the preseason media poll, while Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU and Arizona State are also receiving votes. It's the first time in AP Poll history one conference has had five teams in the preseason top 10.
 
"We want to go out and win and every night it's like, 'How do we win these 40 minutes?'" DeVries explained. "We'll play the guys we want on that particular night to help us win that game."
 
Monday night's game against Robert Morris will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN+ (Andrew Caridi, Warren Baker and Amanda Mazey). 
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage begins with host David Kahn and the Coca Cola Mountaineer Pregame at 6 p.m. leading into the Coca Cola Countdown to Tipoff at 6:30 p.m. with Tony Caridi and Brad Howe. They can be heard on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com, and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
The Nov. 4 date is the earliest start in school history.
 
Tickets for the 2024-25 season remain available and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.

Big 12 Players on ESPN Men's Top 100 Basketball Players for 2024-2025 Season 
4. Hunter Dickinson - Kansas Jayhawks | C | Senior
6. Caleb Love - Arizona Wildcats | G | Senior
14. Tamin Lipsey - Iowa State Cyclones | G | Junior
16. VJ Edgecombe - Baylor Bears | G | Freshman
17. L.J. Cryer - Houston Cougars | G | Senior
29. Norchad Omier - Baylor Bears | F | Senior
31. AJ Storr - Kansas Jayhawks | G | Junior
32. J'Wan Roberts - Houston Cougars | F | Senior
33. Tucker DeVries - West Virginia Mountaineers | G | Senior
37. Dajuan Harris Jr. - Kansas Jayhawks | G | Senior
38. Jeremy Roach - Baylor Bears | G | Senior
52. Coleman Hawkins - Kansas State Wildcats | G | Senior
57. Emanuel Sharp - Houston Cougars | G | Junior
63. Keshon Gilbert - Iowa State Cyclones | G | Senior
69. KJ Adams Jr. - Kansas Jayhawks | F | Senior
74. Motiejus Krivas - Arizona Wildcats | C | Sophomore
87. Zeke Mayo - Kansas Jayhawks | G | Senior
89. Egor Demin - BYU Cougars | G | Freshman
94. Dug McDaniel - Kansas State Wildcats | G | Junior
98. Milan Momcilovic - Iowa State Cyclones | F | Sophomore