Saturday was the day West Virginia had been waiting for. After a week of court cases and NCAA rulings, the Mountaineers were supposed to get their full roster back ahead of the Hall of Fame Classic against UMass in Springfield, Mass.
West Virginia hoped getting their full roster back would help get this team back on track heading into the final two weeks of non-conference play. Less than an hour before the game, interim head coach Josh Eilert announced RaeQuan Battle would not play due to illness, and then after trailing by as many as 18, the Mountaineers couldn’t complete the comeback attempt, spoiling what they thought would be a big return, as they fell, 87-79.
Kerr Kriisa made his first start of the season, returning from a nine-game suspension, and his presence was felt on the offensive end early.
The Arizona transfer helped the Mountaineers spread the floor early, leading to a pair of three-pointers, as West Virginia (4-6) dug themselves out of an early 9-2 deficit.
Kriisa hit a three-pointer and made the free throw after a foul, giving the Mountaineers their first lead of the game at 17-16, but the rest of the first half would not go in WVU’s favor.
WVU trailed by six with 6:01 to play as Kriisa hit a three, but they would be outscored 15-6 over the final 5:16 of the first half, as UMass (6-2) took a 44-29 lead into halftime.
Kriisa scored 14 of his game-high XX points in the first half, as the rest of the Mountaineers outside of Kriisa went 6 for 22 from the field.
UMass carried their strong end of the first half to the beginning of the second half. The Minuteman led by 18 with 18:26 to play, but that’s when West Virginia turned it on.
The Mountaineers switched to a zone defense and then relied upon heavy guard play from Kriisa along with Noah Farrakhan, who also missed WVU’s first nine games because he was a multi-time transfer.
WVU went on three runs of seven, five, and 11 points, tying the game at 60-60 as Seth Wilson hit a three-pointer.
The game would go back-and-forth from the 9:04 mark to the 3:18 mark, with UMass leading by as many as five during the run, but West Virginia kept it within striking distance.
Jesse Edwards checked back into the game with 3:05 to play, and the wheels fell off once he entered the game.
UMass went on an 8-0 run over a 1:54 stretch, with six points coming at the free throw line. On the offensive end, WVU put together rushed and sloppy offensive possessions, as UMass led 81-71 with 48 seconds to play.
Josh Cohen led UMass with 19 points, going 6 for 12 from the field, and Robert Davis, who went 6 for 8 from three.
The Mountaineers shot the ball well from deep, going 14 for 30 from three, as more than half their made field goals were from beyond the arc. WVU had 11 turnovers leading to nine points, while UMass had 33 fast break points, and 36 points in the paint.
Josiah Harris, who graduated earlier today had 10 points off the bench, while Farrakhan had 15 points on 7 for 11 shooting in his season debut.
West Virginia returns home to the WVU Coliseum for two games in a row. They host Radford and Toledo, before hitting the road for a neutral site game against Ohio State.
