After beating Drexel 66-60 on Saturday, outscoring them 35-27 in the second half, West Virginia men’s basketball interim coach Josh Eilert talked about what stood out to him.
Statistics
“First thing that kind of sticks out when I look at the box score is us 17 assists. You look back at the game
against St. John’s, I believe we had six, so we definitely played well together,” Eilert said.
Guard Kobe Johnson led WVU with six assists in the contest and Seth Wilson had five. The effective ball movement created quality shot opportunities and allowed the Mountaineers to shoot better overall as a team.
“It was refreshing to see 7 for 17(from three). It’s a good change of pace there,” Eilert said.
Akok Akok
“He’s plus 15 in 12 minutes and only scoring five points. Big three (pointer), but more than anything he just gives everybody a lift on the defensive end,” Eilert said of Akok. “With his size and length, he can sit down and guard a point guard if he has to, he can switch onto anybody on the floor, he can guard bigs. From a coaching standpoint, it gives you so much more leverage out there to do what you want to do defensively.”
Akok, in his second game back, has been re-adjusting to the pace of play. In the future when he can take on more minutes, Akok should be a huge asset to the team.
Philosophy/Moving Forward
“In the two days leading up to the game, the big message for me to our guys is don’t lose the joy in this game. We all dreamed of being in a position to be where we are at whether that is us as coaches or those guys as players,” Eilert said. “I said don’t second guess yourself. Play with complete confidence and when you get a good look at your shooters, let it fly.”
West Virginia’s basketball team has faced significant backlash after a lackluster start to the season and Eilert doesn’t want his players to lose any faith. A short bench and challenges facing the program since the Summer are still to be figured out. However, the Mountaineers will be getting guard Kerr Kriisa back from suspension when they face UMASS on Dec. 16 as they look to stay in the win column and change the narrative of their season.
