West Virginia men’s basketball fell 87-79 on Saturday evening to UMass. After the game, interim head coach Josh Eilert talked about the loss as well as the storylines surrounding the game for the Mountaineers.
Missing Battle
This was supposed to be the return of everyone on the roster for West Virginia — until it wasn’t. RaeQuan Battle missed the game due to an illness, and Eilert said he’s been sick since Wednesday. That day was the same day Battle testified in court against the NCAA.
“Wednesday he testified in court, and Wednesday night, I think he thought he ate something bad. He probably slept 12-15 hours Wednesday night, afternoon, all the way through. He didn’t practice Thursday because he lost so much weight and was under the weather. Practiced yesterday, thought he was bouncing back, and then today, it turned for the worse again. He’s fighting through an illness right now and wants to be out there for his teammates. I’m not going to have him out there down 13 pounds in the position he’s in,” Eilert said.
As far as his status going forward, Eilert said, “I intend for him to play on Wednesday.”
Kriisa + Farrakhan Return
Kerr Kriisa and Noah Farrakhan, two guards were big for West Virginia on Saturday. Kriisa missed the first nine games due to a suspension, while Farrakhan missed the first nine because he was ineligible due to the previous transfer rules.
“I was concerned about trying to transition three and a half guys. We’re still trying to get Akok where he needs to be conditioning wise, he’s played in two games. To have those guys and have some depth at the guard position was going to be critical. He brought a lot of spark off the bench, and handed the ball and really put a lot of pressure on the rim going downhill. He was a good addition to our roster and to our depth,” Eilert said.
“It’s the way we wanted to play from day one. Now we’re trying to transition from the slow it down pace. For the last nine games we were trying to save legs and make sure our guys that were playing 35-plus minutes could compete down the stretch. Now we got the guys we want in there. Everybody can help us win, now we got fresh legs and can really get up and down the floor. You can see Noah’s special and he can get downhill and get to the rim and really put pressure on defenses. Kerr, I don’t think everybody’s quite ready for some of the passes he makes. He’s going to put it on them. He’s a special point guard and once we get some of that chemistry rolling, I think we’re going to be a dangerous team.”
Kriisa finished with a game-high 20 points and added seven assists.
“It’s going to take some time for him. His passes in game are either more crisp and sometimes intense than they are in practice,” Eilert said of Kriisa.
Edwards Injured
Jesse Edwards turned in his worst performance of the season, possibly due to a right wrist injury.
Edwards played 16 total minutes, and only two minutes in the second half. He had two points and could be seen late in the game with a lot of tape on his right wrist.
“It hurt not having Jesse out there. That injury to the wrist scares me and I’m praying he’s healthy and we can get him back sooner than later,” Eilert said.
Close to Completing the Comeback
The Mountaineers trailed by as many as 18 and would erase the deficit, but could never take the lead. UMass went on a 9-0 run late, after WVU had a chance to take the lead with under four minutes to play.
“They really made some shots. So did we, but they were 8 for 21 from three. I never would’ve thought in a million years, they’d shoot 2- more free throws than us. They were sending their opponents to the line an average of 26 times per game. We got to the line 12 (times), they got to the line 32 times. I guess, I’m not sure how the game was called but it wasn’t called the way I think it should’ve been called,” Eilert said.
On UMass’ final 8-0 run, six of those points came at the free throw line.
“Critical rebounds down the stretch have been a huge achilles for us. We haven’t got those critical rebounds in the last 5-10 minutes of games, especially in the last five minutes. If we don’t sure that up, it’s going be hard to win tough games,” Eilert said.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
