Josh Eilert emphasizes building team chemistry in path to finding success

WVU Men’s Basketball will look to move forward together after a bad loss to Houston, coach Josh Eilert said Monday.

The Cougars defeated the Mountaineers 89-55 Saturday as the Mountaineers were held down offensively. With this pushing WVU to 5-9 on the season, coach Eilert knew that loss could be a breaking point for many teams.

“We got to turn the page, and I told these guys after that game, this league can eat you alive if you hold onto things,” Eilert said.

In efforts to combat that, WVU’s mission will be to stick together and grow as a unit, which is something the Mountaineers have not had a chance to do much thus far.

With three transfers, Kerr Kriisa, Noah Farrakhan, and RaeQuan Battle, being added to the roster recently and significant players coming in and out of lineups due to injury, WVU has had little opportunity to truly gel according to Eilert.

“I knew chemistry was going to be a problem… It’s something that we’re working through each day,” said Eilert. “We can’t lose sight of each other and lose faith in each other. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up and put our boots on and go to work.”

Luckily for Eilert, that goal should not be unattainable in the near future, especially with 6’11” star Jesse Edwards set to return to the lineup shortly. Additionally, the biggest and newest name to the team, guard RaeQuan Battle, should have no issue fitting in as more time to adjust comes, according to Eilert’s description last week.

“He’s a very coachable young man and he’s a great person and a great teammate. He wants to do everything he can for us to win,” Eilert said Thursday. “He’d be very happy if he scored five points and we got a win. That’s the type of person he is. That’s the type of teammate he is.”

With chemistry, WVU’s new look has formed other complications Eilert, especially in regard to fouling. With the roster limited previously, fouling had to be minimized, but now Eilert and the team will be looking to strike a strategic balance on that front.

“We had to be very, very careful and very strategic in the first nine games to stay out of foul trouble because one guy sitting on the bench could have crippled us… so yes, trying to turn that page midseason and try to be more aggressive in our approach has certainly been what we’re trying to do,” Eilert said.

“You know, it’s hard to turn up the pressure late. You know, if you’re a basketball coach and you have the opportunity and you have the depth, you want to turn the pressure up early, and if you have to back off, you back off.”

Just as with chemistry, RaeQuan Battle is a huge factor in striking that fouling balance defensively. Eilert emphasized that Battle has all of the tools to be as great defensively as he is offensively and that, as he gets more comfortable, that will show.

“He’s just got to stay true to himself and stay on the floor and move laterally as much as he does vertically… That stuff’s going to come with some time,” Eilert said.

As Eilert’s team grows closer and more comfortable together, he expects that to translate to more success, starting against Kansas State on Tuesday night. The game tips off at 7 p.m. at the WVU Colisseum.