What Darian DeVries Said Following the Win over Charleston

West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries postgame press conference quick hits

West Virginia University head coach Darian DeVries / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

The West Virginia Mountaineers cruised in their exhibition game against the University of Charleston (WV) Golden Eagles Friday night 94-61.

Initial thoughts on the game

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. They were all things I was very pleased with. That first time out, a lot of times you can see some crazy stuff, but I thought our guys played very much within themselves and 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, our activity was good, itt 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 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.

Playing undersized

Certainly, some good things, there were times where we did what we needed to do from a physicality standpoint and then there were certainly some holes there as well. That’s going to be something that throughout the year here we’re going to continue to get better and better at. Our guys are bought into it, it’s just a lot of guys haven't had to go hit the way they need to hit. They’ve been able to survive by being more athletic from whatever league they were in or place they were at, and now we don’t have that luxury. We have to go get bodies on people.

First game of the season

I don’t know if you ever know what to expect the first time, they get out there and the lights are on and the crowds out there, I thought they handled it very well. Some of it to be honest with you is normal to be nervous, mess up a little bit, you’re just a little excited going a little fast. I thought, especially the freshman, I thought they came in and did some good things, settled in nicely. Overall, I thought the guys did a nice job handling that type of situation.