MORGANTOWN — In Darian DeVries’ wildest dreams he couldn’t have imagined a better debut than the one he coaches on Monday night in the Coliseum.

There was a moment, early in the evening when he could have looked at the scoreboard and saw that his West Virginia Mountaineers were leading Robert Morris 21-0.

Then moments later he could have noted that the huge Coliseum scoreboard was twinkling out a 30-2 score.

Welcome to West Virginia, coach DeVries.

It was an awesome display of everything he could have wanted to get his team off and running to an 87-59 victory.

So what did he take from it?

“I got the ball,” he said. “(Athletic director) Wren Baker presented me with it.”

And surely it will get a place of honor in his home, his first win as a Power 4 coach.

“First wins are special,” he said.

Sometimes, though, they aren’t quite this easy … or maybe lopsided is a better word for this coach isn’t one who considers anything easy, even if they did make it look that way.

Not that this was unexpected, but there was so much special about the whole evening.

First off, WVU seldom loses a home opener, this game giving them a 106-10 record all-time, but few, if any, had the explosive beginning that this one gave DeVries and his new team.

It started fittingly enough as the coach’s son, Tucker, one of the nation’s top returning scorers, opened the season with a 3 on the Mountaineers’ first shot.

Then he hit a 2.

And another 3 in what would become a highlight run by the Mountaineers, who raced away from RMU to a 21-0 lead that they would expand to 30-2.

Everything they threw up at the basket seemed to go in, sometimes in the most memorable of fashions, such as an out-of-bounds lob from Javon Small to Toby Okani skied for, grabbed with one hand and in the same motion slammed the ball through the hoop.

It was an athletic moment to remember, as was the way WVU went from 18-0 to 30-2 on four straight 3-point baskets, one of them by DeVries that came from Harrison County.

DeVries added to the legend he had started later in the half when he faked a defender off his feet from behind the 3-point arc, went up and into the defender, who hit him hard, only to have the 3-point heave go in. DeVries would finish the game with 18 points to lead five Mountaineers in double figures.

“It was fun to see him on this opening night,” he said of his son. “I know he was excited to get out there and play, too. And I know he’s proud of his dunk, but he didn’t get up too high.”

But an early lead, no matter how big in basketball, guarantees nothing and Robert Morris came to life and actually outscored the Mountaineers by a point the rest of the way.

You could almost feel it coming, actually. In fact, when the first time out came along and was far, far in front. So what do you say during such a time out?

“I had lots of fun stuff today,” DeVries said. “It’s so early in the game. It’s a great start, but let’s keep going. There’s a lot of games left. Anyone who has ever been around sports, especially basketball, knows games can swing really quickly. I think every game with a fast start you want to make sure you want to keep doing what got us to that lead. That’s what our main focus was.”

But by that time Robert Morris came to life and, as hard as it was to imagine — or see — the visitors outscored WVU, 24-16, the rest of the way to go into the locker room trailing 46-26.

It was a big margin, obviously, considering the game started off at 21-0.

Robert Morris’ start wasn’t even the worst start of the night. The start of the second half was delayed when the shot clock had to be replaced …. they thought. As it was, that wasn’t the real problem and after a lengthy delay, they went on without shot clocks over the baskets, setting up backup shot clocks on the floor at either end of the court.

The second half things got a little bit sloppy but WVU continued its defensive pressure, finishing the night with 10 steals and eight blocked shots, three of them from Sincere Harris, a guard who is a special defender.

Small, the Oklahoma State transfer, had 15 points and five assists and a pair of freshman KJ Tenner and Jonathan Powell played like anything but freshman, Tenner with 10 points and 3 assists and Powell with 11 points. The two combined to make 8 of 13 shots with five coming from 3-point range in 9 tries.