--West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said his team is going to find out if his team is physical enough to take on UMass and it will be a great test for them in this contest.
--DeVries thinks this can be a good rebounding team because they aren't getting overwhelmed but they have to create better habits. They have to get bodies on people and box out. He anticipates they are going to get there and get bodies on people to be a good rebounding team.
--DeVries said in the summer they did a lot of live combat for rebounding but in the season it's reps with hitting a pad to reinforce creating that.
--UMass is going to pound the glass and throw it in the interior and be physical. There are going to be opportunities to run out because they are aggressive on the offensive glass, but they have to do their job first and rebound the ball. They have to get them to miss the first one and then rebound it.
--Sencire Harris doesn't give him much of an option when it comes to defending the best offensive player on the perimeter. He loves that challenge.
--DeVries wants his teams to be as physical as possible and play tough. They want to make that their identity as well.
--DeVries said the tape for Robert Morris is how they wanted it look as a coach. They want to continue to work on sustaining that for longer periods of time and that is the challenging moving forward and it will be a big test Friday.
--The assistants watched the full game from last year against UMass and it was a physical game. They have a little bit different roster from last year, but the mentality is still the same.
--For each scout they will take a collection of plays out of each playbook around 10-15 and will focus on that grouping of plays. That doesn't mean they can't pull from others but that's what they want to do. There are a lot of ways to approach it and game by game you sometimes try to get somebody confidence that is struggling or get some of your best players looks. Sometimes that is different from half to half in the same game.
--The more you run sets the more the game will slow down, but they want to take every opportunity they can to get out in transition.
--DeVries said they don't have an elite shot blocking team. They have to be selective that if they go they have to get it because there is nobody left on the backside. They have to play as one-on-one as possible and wall up on the backside.
--Defensively they don't chart deflections or have a certain number of tips they need to hit but they want to be gritty, tough and get through screens. It's something you can see and feel if they're hooked up and playing the way they are playing.
--KJ Tenner is confident and aggressive and that's what they want.
--DeVries said he doesn't know what recruiting will look like in a week or so with the early signing period, but they are always recruiting. They will be bringing recruits on official visits throughout the year and they want the people that want to be here.
--DeVries wants to get some returners, some freshmen coming in and then fill some needs in the portal to sustain for a longer period. You have to be able to adapt to what the situation presents itself as in case you lose some guys in the portal to fill needs.
--Where the games fall, every game is a big challenge on the schedule. You have all summer and fall to get ready to play and they have to go play. Friday that's Massachusetts.
--DeVries wants their identity to be tough and physical and that's the mindset they want it to be to play to that. It isn't really a skill, but for some guys it's more natural. Certain teams have a reputation for how they play and they want that to be along those same lines.
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