BATTLE FOR THE BALL — West Virginia’s K.J. Tenner (right) fights for the ball against North Carolina Central on Tuesday. Tenner had nine points and six assists. - Cassidy Roark

MORGANTOWN — The response came in many forms, but there was only one question Tuesday.

Just how would the WVU men’s basketball team look without senior guard Tucker DeVries?

As far as first impressions go, the Mountaineers came away with a lot of positives following their 79-45 victory against North Carolina Central inside the Coliseum.

Yet there are still at least 23 games remaining on the schedule with 21 against Big 12 competition, something the Eagles (4-8) are not.

As for DeVries, WVU’s second-leading scorer and top 3-point shooter, it was announced before the game he was going to be out indefinitely with an “upper body injury.”

“After consulting with our team doctors and other medical professionals, they have ruled Tucker out indefinitely,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said. “We have a great bunch of guys in the locker room who I know will rally around him during his absence.”

Tucker DeVries had surgery on his right shoulder in March and was medically cleared to play in the summer, just prior to the team leaving for an exhibition tour of Italy.

He had played in each of the first eight games, but there is no telling how long the Mountaineers (7-2) will now be without him.

“We’ll prepare tomorrow with the guys we have on the floor,” Darian DeVries said. “If that changes, then we’ll adjust. Whoever we have available for those days and those games, that’s how we’ll prepare for each game.”

WVU players were told Tuesday morning, and they responded with a team effort that included some unusual suspects.

That included guard Joseph Yesefu, who had not played in three of the last four games, but when given the opportunity against the Eagles, Yesefu shined.

He nailed two 3-pointers late in the shot clock to help create a spark, then added a fast-break bucket and another three.

He scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half.

“I’ve seen Joe do that many times for us when he was a sophomore at Drake,” Darian DeVries said. “He finished off the season averaging 25-plus points a night. He’s more than capable of having nights like that.”

Then there was the play of freshmen Jonathan Powell and K.J. Tenner.

Powell, who had been in a sort of shooting slump recently, finished with a career-high 17 points going 4 of 11 from 3-point range.

“It’s always good to see it go in,” Powell said. “Even when I was missing, my coaches and teammates all trust and believed in my shot. It most definitely felt good to see a couple go through.”

Tenner added nine points, six assists and two steals in 30 minutes of action.

Eduardo Andre picked up his first start at WVU with Tucker DeVries out of action, giving the Mountaineers the size advantage with Andre and Amani Hansberry.

It may not have been the best look for the offense — even if WVU finished with a 45-30 rebounding advantage — as the Mountaineers began the game with just seven points over the first five minutes.

In came Tenner, Powell and Yesefu, all of them playing crucial roles that had been unexpected just hours before.

In the end, the box score will tell you Tucker DeVries was hardly missed. The Mountaineers tied a season high with 15 3-pointers and also tied a season high with 21 assists.

Tenner said none of it was shocking.

“Not at all,” he said. “Coach, his big thing is for us to stay ready, and when your opportunity comes, be prepared.

“The expectations don’t change. We just have to be ready to come in and step up and be ready to do some of the things Tucker did. He told us it’s not going to take one person to replace Tucker. It’s going to take all of us.”

Javon Small, who fought through constant double-teams most of the game, added 12 points and four assists.

Hansberry led WVU with 12 rebounds, while Andre added eight boards and blocked four shots.

“I thought the team did a nice job of figuring things out, because we had a lot of lineups out there where guys had never played certain positions before,” Darian DeVries said. “So, when you’re trying to execute things, you’re pretty limited on what you can do. We had to rely a lot on spacing and moving and cutting and passing, and those are the things we’ll continue to work on as we move forward.”