MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia scored the game's first 21 points on the way to an 87-59 season-opening victory over Robert Morris in Darian DeVries' coaching debut for the Mountaineers.
 
His son, Tucker, tallied the first 8 and finished his night with a game-high 18.
 
Oklahoma State transfer Javon Small chipped in with 15, UIC transfer Toby Okani scored 13, freshman Jonathan Powell had 11 and fellow freshman KJ Tenner finished with 10.
 
Amani Hansberry just missed a double-double with 9 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
West Virginia made 33 of its 60 field goal attempts for 55%, including 14 of 34 from 3-point distance. Six different Mountaineer players made 3s, led by DeVries' four on nine attempts.
 
DeVries, who engineered six straight 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament berths at Drake, is the 23^rd coach making his Mountaineer debut and the seventh since the WVU Coliseum opened on Dec. 1, 1970, against Colgate.
 
Since then, Sonny Moran was the only one to play his first WVU game on the road, a 106-87 loss at Kentucky.
 
"We were really excited the way we came out to start this game and I thought our guys had tremendous focus and really executed at both ends of the floor," DeVries said. "I couldn't be prouder of the start that we had and certainly thankful that we came away with the win tonight. Hopefully, it's the first of many."
 
What the 9,229 here saw tonight was an extremely aggressive defense, some accurate long-range shooting, excellent ball movement and good decision making.
 
"I loved the way we were sharing it, especially coming off the tip," DeVries said. "I thought we did a great job of getting movement, getting guys in rotations and then making the extra pass. I thought we had some really good looks."
 
Leading 30-2 with 11:59 left in the first half, West Virginia remained stuck on 30 for the next three minutes until Okani took Small's baseline inbounds pass with one hand and soared above everyone for a thunderous dunk.
 
WVU answered Robert Morris' 12-2 run with an 11-0 flurry that included 3s by DeVries, Hansberry and Powell, sandwiched between Tenner's runner in the paint.
 
The only thing slowing West Virginia down was a delay to the second half because of a shot clock malfunction to the basket where the Mountaineers were warming up. Temporary shot clocks were positioned underneath each basket.
 
The Mountaineers outscored the Colonials 41-33 in a second half in which both teams used most of their players. WVU emptied its bench with 2:48 left and leading 82-56. West Virginia's largest lead was 29 points, 73-44, with 9:01 remaining.
 
Robert Morris got 13 points from Gannon transfer Josh Omojafo.
 
The Colonials shot just 32.4% and turned the ball over 14 times, 10 of those coming in the first half.
 
Nit pickers will notice Robert Morris' 41-37 advantage on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds, West Virginia shooting just 58.3% from the free throw line and the Mountaineers' 11 turnovers, many of those unforced.
 
"We held them to 32% in both halves, but you give a team 16 offensive rebounds that cane make it quite challenging, so we've got to do better there," DeVries said. "We've got to make that a primary focus for us,"
 
The Mountaineers remain in Morgantown to face Massachusetts on Friday night. The Minutemen, old Atlantic 10 rivals, will be making a return trip after last year's 87-79 victory at MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.
 
"Overall, great first game for us coming out with a group that hasn't played a lot together in a game-like setting and I thought they had great focus," DeVries said.
 
UMass began the season with a 103-74 victory tonight over New Hampshire.

Tickets for Friday night's game are available through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.