When the Mountaineers host No. 12 Baylor on Saturday, they’ll be facing a familiar face in Jalen Bridges, who is from Fairmont and spent 2019 to 2022 with WVU.
“I saw Jalen (Bridges) in Kansas City, in the Big 12 media days. I always had a wonderful relationship with Jalen, so I was excited to see him and give him a hug,” West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert said. “I have no ill will towards Jalen by any means and I don’t think he has any ill will towards me.”
With West Virginia, Bridges played in 61 games, starting 52 averaging 7.3 points per game and racking up 258 rebounds, 46 steals, 35 assists and 34 blocks in two seasons after redshirting during the 2019-2020 season.
“It’s strange (playing against Bridges), you create those relationships in the recruiting process and you know their family and you run into their family in the community.To see him at Baylor and going against him in a different color jersey. Probably will be a little stranger for me being the head coach than it would be being an assistant” Eilert said. “(To reiterate), I have no ill will towards Jalen whatsoever. And in this business, you want your guys to succeed, one way or another. And I care about Jalen, I hope he does just not against the Mountaineers.”
So far in 2023-2024, in his second season with the Bears, the 6-foot-7 forward is averaging 10.8 ppg, 4.6 rebounds per game and 1.7 assists per game, starting in every game. Last season, Bridges started in every one of Baylor’s 34 games, averaging 10.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, one apg and one block per game.
“He’s playing his role for them (Baylor) and playing at a high level. He’s a guy that’s going to play his role extremely well and shoot that basketball when he’s open. And if I remember right, he’s a double-double night last time he had a chance to come in here at the Coliseum, so hopefully we can stymie that a little bit this time,” Eilert said.
Tipoff on Saturday is set for 6:00 p.m. EST and will be streamed on ESPN+.
