West Virginia couldn’t keep pace with No. 12 Baylor on Saturday, as the Mountaineers fell, 94-81 to the Bears at the WVU Coliseum.
Interim head coach Josh Eilert talked heavily about WVU’s defense, as well as how his team performed on offense, while giving praise to Baylor.
Thoughts With Seth Wilson
Eilert first made sure he sent his thoughts to Seth Wilson and his family. Wilson missed the game due to the death of his grandmother.
I just want to send my thoughts, prayers to Seth’s family, he lost his grandmother a couple days ago and lost his father a couple of years ago, so he’s had a rough go of it,” Eilert said. “That’s why he wasn’t in attendance tonight so, thoughts and prayers go out to Seth Wilson and his family.”
Defense
WVU’s defense allowed Baylor to shoot 54 percent from the field, while they also made 12 three-pointers. The Bears scored 94 points, and WVU has given up at least 81 points in each of their last four games, and they’ve lost all four of those contests.
Some of it is going to come down to closeouts and pick-and-roll coverage and what we’re trying to do on the backside. There’s things we can clean up, but I think the most wearing one for me are the step-in shots off of second opportunities,” Eilert said.
“You give them that many easy buckets, and I don’t know what the number is in terms of how many threes they got off of second chances and step-in shots. That’s a pretty easy shot to make, especially with the talent they got on that roster top to bottom and how balanced they are.”
Part of Baylor’s success was due to Ja’Kobe Walter. He had 23 points and made four shots from distance.
“Unbelievable performance. He wasn’t the most efficient by looking at the numbers, I mean, 4-for-14. He certainly didn’t back down on the road at all as a freshman. Sometimes you’ll see that guys get tentative on the road and as a freshman, that’s a pretty incredible performance,” Eilert said.
WVU’s Offense Combating Turnovers
There was a lot of good and bad for WVU on offense. The Mountaineers shot 42 percent from three, and 53 percent from the field. However, they also turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 20 points for the Bears.
“We get good looks, and if we execute correctly, and everybody is on the same page, we’re going to get a good look. 53 percent, I’ll take that every night, but consequently, they shot 53% and got five more shot attempts up and the numbers game, once again, they had 12 three’s and we had eight,” Eilert said.
