MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia scored the first 21 points of the game en route to an 87-59 season-opening victory over Robert Morris Darian DeVries' Coaching debut for the Mountaineers.

His son Tucker scored the first eight points and finished his night with a game-high 18 points.

Transferred to Oklahoma State Javon Small chipped with 15, UIC transmission Toby Okani scored 13 points, freshman Jonathan Powell had 11 and fellow freshman KJ Tenner Completed with 10.

Amani Hansberry With 9 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, he narrowly missed a double-double.

West Virginia made 33 of its 60 field goal attempts for 55%, including 14 of 34 from 3-point range. Six different Mountaineer players made 3s, led by DeVries' four on nine attempts.

DeVries, who managed six consecutive 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament berths at Drake, is the 23rd^approx Coach made his Mountaineer debut and seventh since WVU Coliseum opened on December 1, 1970 against Colgate.

Since then, Sonny Moran was the only WVU player to play in his first game on the road, a 106-87 loss at Kentucky.

“We were really excited about the way we started this game and I thought our guys had tremendous focus and really performed on both ends of the court,” DeVries said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our start and definitely grateful that we got the win tonight. Hopefully it’s the first of many.”

What the 9,229 here tonight saw was extremely aggressive defense, some accurate long-range shooting, excellent ball movement and good decision making.

“I liked the way we shared it, especially once we got past the tip,” DeVries said. “I thought we did a great job of creating movement, getting guys into rotations and then making the extra pass. I thought we looked really good.”

West Virginia led 30-2 with 11:59 left in the first half and stayed at 30 for the next three minutes until Okani intercepted Small's inbounds pass on the baseline with one hand and flew over everyone else and one made a thunderous dunk.

WVU answered Robert Morris' 12-2 run with an 11-0 drive that included threes from DeVries, Hansberry and Powell sandwiched between Tenner's runners in the paint.

The only thing slowing West Virginia was a delay in the second half due to a shot clock malfunction in the basket where the Mountaineers were warming up. Temporary shot clocks were placed under 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 led 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, including 10 times in the first half.

Nit pickers will note Robert Morris' 41-37 advantage on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds, West Virginia's shooting percentage of just 58.3% from the free throw line and the Mountaineers' 11 turnovers, many of them unforced.

“We held them to 32% in both halves, but when you give a team 16 offensive rebounds, it's pretty challenging, so we have to do better there,” DeVries said. “We need to make this a main 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 the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

“Overall it was a great first game for us as we came out with a group that hasn't played together much in a game-like environment and I thought they were very focused,” DeVries said.

UMass started the season tonight with a 103-74 win over New Hampshire.

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