Following an 89-55 loss to No. 3 Houston on Saturday, West Virginia men’s basketball interim head coach Josh Eilert spoke highly of coach Kevin Sampson and his Cougars, while also stating the team’s mentality in moving forward.
“First of all, credit to coach Sampson and Houston. That was an impressive performance defensively. You know, I thought maybe we could create some advantages in a game plan, but they did probably like, I’d say, a masterful job defensively in their game plan in terms of what they did to us and what they took us out of in terms of their ball screen coverage,” Eilert said.
Houston had 10 steals to go along with nine blocks, holding the Mountaineers to a 32.1% shooting percentage.
“I told our guys this league’s (Big 12), it’s a bear, so you got to flush it and figure out what you can learn from and turn the page because it’s going to be battle after battle after battle,” Eilert said.
Houston is known for their smothering defense and took away multiple offensive weapons for WVU including Kerr Kriisa.
“Kerr is a pretty good point guard, but they knew they’re going to have to get the ball out of his hands,” Eilert said.
“And we talk about hockey assists in basketball and trying to get that one more pass, and Kerr turned it over several times, but we got it out of there for the most part. But we weren’t making that next pass. And if we were early, we got some decent looks, but they weren’t falling for us.”
Still without Jesse Edwards as he recovers from a fractured wrist suffered in a loss to UMass on Dec. 16, West Virginia has struggled to fill the five position.
“We’re playing without a five-man. We got Akok Akok out there starting at the five and Pat Suemnick playing some minutes at the five to help us down low, but our depth at the five is very minimal. One of my biggest issues going into this season was worrying about Jesse Edwards getting in foul trouble, and I never would have thought I’d be worried about playing without him for four or five weeks. And as a concern of mine, not having a backup five and now we don’t even have a five. So rebounding has been a critical issue with us. And hold and serve in the paint has been a critical issue,” Eilert said.
Despite many challenges faced by WVU for months now, all they can do is move forward in this tough Big 12 conference.
“Consistency. I just spoke with coach Sampson out there, and he’s got defense in his pocket, and those guys are scared to not guard. And that’s a culture he’s built here, and he’s had time to build it, and he’s done an excellent job of maintaining that culture. So consistency each and every night trying to bring it,” Eilert said when asked about the biggest challenge that the Big 12 presents week in and week out.
