Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson took the time to talk about the No. 3 ranked Cougars upcoming matchup against the Mountaineers.
For Houston, this will be the first conference matchup as a member of the Big 12, as for West Virginia, this will be their toughest matchup of this season so far.
Sampson was quick to make sure West Virginia was a team that was not to be underestimated, acknowledging how little they have had several players available this season.
“They’ve got a good team,” said Sampson. “The uninitiated will look at their record and say well they’re not that good, that’s being lazy. Do your research, they may be the most snake bit team in America. [RaeQuan] Battle just got cleared four games ago, [Kerr] Kriisa missed the first nine games, and then the other kid, [Noah] Farrakhan, we’ve talked to some people that said they couldn’t believe how good Farrakhan was.”
Sampson then took the time to praise West Virginia’s RaeQuan Battle, saying “God gifted him with great talent.”
“He’s talented, God gifted him with great talent. He has really really long arms, 6 ‘5, extremely athletic, he’s a good shooter and a good scorer. A lot of scorers aren’t good shooters, there’s a lot of good shooters that are not good scorers, he can do both, and he plays on a team where he’s allowed to be a volume shooter so because of that he’s going to put up big numbers, but he’s fearless.”
Sampson then talked about West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert and the job he has done in integrating all of these new players into the team as the season has moved on.
“The new coach, coach Eilert, has done an unbelievable job of integrating him [Battle] back into how they play. He’s their focal point and it also helps that they have a veteran point guard that’s played at the highest level and won at the highest level in Kerr Kriisa.”
West Virginia will travel to Houston to take on the No. 3 ranked Cougars on Saturday with tip-off set for 2:00. The game can be seen on ESPN+.
