“Mountaineers tip off 2024-25 campaign against Robert Morris on Monday night”.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia makes its 116th^Th Men's Basketball Season and Coaches Darian DeVriesHe'll be at the helm for the first time on Monday, Nov. 5, when the Mountaineers take on Robert Morris of the Horizon League.

WVU under DeVries has an almost completely rebuilt roster after last year's record of 9-23, in which the Mountaineers finished tied at 13^Th in the 14-team Big 12 Conference. With summer additions from Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah, the league has grown to 16 teams, and West Virginia was picked to finish 13th^Th ahead of Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma State.

“We are ready and excited for the game,” DeVries, who expects about a dozen family members and friends to attend Monday’s opening game, said Friday afternoon.

West Virginia is the only team in the country to have two players on the same team who averaged more than 20 points per game last year – guard Tucker DeVrieswho scored 21.6 points per game at Drake, and guard Jayden Stonewho scored 20.8 points per game at Detroit Mercy.

However, DeVries said Friday that Stone will not be available for Monday's opener because of an unspecified injury he sustained during practice.

“Jayden Stone “We're going to be out for a period of time, and we'll see how long that lasts with some sort of upper body injury,” DeVries said. “This will be something like everyday business in the future.”

Another important offseason achievement: transferring to Oklahoma State Javon Smallwas an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention pick for the Cowboys last year after averaging 15.1 points per game.

Forward Ofri Naveh and two-sport athletes Aden Tagaloa Nelson are the only returning players from last year's squad.

The Mountaineers used a starting lineup consisting of Small, DeVries, Sencire Harris, Toby Okani And Amani Hansberry in their 94-61 exhibition game victory over Charleston at the Coliseum on Friday, October 18.

DeVries led all double-digit scorers with 18 points, while Hansberry, Small and Freshman played guard Jonathan Powell 11 each chipped.

Hansberry and Harris are transfers from Illinois, while Okani played at Illinois-Chicago last season.

WVU faced Wake Forest in a closed matchup last Friday in Beckley, and while no information was released publicly, DeVries admitted during his radio show at Kegler's Sports Bar and Grill earlier this week that he was pleased with his team's performance.

“After our second scrimmage, it was a little longer week of practice and we really focused on ourselves and now it's a lot of game preparation. It’s the first time we’re really in game preparation mode,” DeVries said.

The Colonials, ranked ninth in the preseason media poll on the 11-team Horizon team, lost 87-73 in their benefit exhibition at Villanova 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, averaging 20 points per game.

Kam Woods, a 6-foot-2 NC State transfer, scored 11 points, as did Alvaro Folgueiras, a 6-foot-2 sophomore forward who started the team's final six games last year and played for the Spanish U20 team for some time last summer.

Woods played 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 16th year^Th season at Robert Morris, where he holds an overall record of 226-222.

“They have a lot of new faces, just like us,” DeVries said. “I thought it was a very hard-fought game (against Villanova), and they bring some challenges that we have to prepare for and be ready for. You have to be ready to play every night.”

Robert Morris begins one of the most difficult schedules in school history. The Mountaineers could play at least seven games against teams ranked in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 and possibly even more depending on who they face in the Bahamas in late November.

West Virginia will face No. 6 Gonzaga in the Bahamas on Wednesday, November 27th.

WVU also has challenging non-conference contests against Massachusetts at the WVU Coliseum on Friday, November 8th, at rival Pitt on Friday, November 15th, and a Big 12-Big East battle against Georgetown at the Coliseum on Friday, December 6th.

Conference opponents Kansas (No. 1), Houston (No. 4), Iowa State (No. 5), Baylor (No. 8), Arizona (No. 10) and Cincinnati (No. 20) are in the preseason media listed poll, while Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU and Arizona State also received votes. It's the first time in AP Poll history that a conference has five teams in the preseason top 10.

“We want to go out and win and every night we ask ourselves, 'How do we win these 40 minutes?'” DeVries explained. “We’re going to play the guys we want to win the game that night.”

Monday night's game against Robert Morris begins at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+ (Andrew Caridi, Warren Baker and Amanda Mazey).

Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. with host David Kahn and the Coca Cola Mountaineer Pregame and ends at 6:30 p.m. with the Coca Cola Countdown to Tipoff with Tony Caridi and Brad Howe. They can be heard on stations across West Virginia, online at WVUsports.com and on the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.

November 4th is the earliest start date 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 Top 100 Men's Basketball Players for the 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 | Freshmen
17. LJ 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 Mountaineer | 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 | Second semester
87. Zeke Mayo – Kansas Jayhawks | G | senior
89. Egor Demin – BYU Cougars | G | Freshmen
94. Dug McDaniel – Kansas State Wildcats | G | Junior
98. Milan Momcilovic – Iowa State Cyclones | F | Second semester