West Virginia men’s basketball is set to honor six seniors in their home finale on Wednesday night against TCU.
I know it’s going to be an emotional night for us,” West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert said. “We’re saying goodbye to 10 people — six players, three managers, and one student trainer that have given a lot to this program. One last time in front of the great fans of this state and this university.”
Eilert said there will be four seniors walking who are out of eligibility — Akok Akok RaeQuan Battle, Jesse Edwards, and Quinn Slazinski. Eilert also said there are two who are set to graduate but still have a year of eligibility left in Kerr Kriisa and Pat Suemnick.
“It’s a crazy day in college athletics in terms of who has more eligibility, who doesn’t, who’s graduating. I think we had the same situation last year,” Eilert said. “There’s several that are exhausting their eligibility in RaeQuan, Jesse, Quinn, and Akok. Kerr will be graduating and will have more eligibility. Pat Suemnick will be graduating and have more eligibility, but they will be choosing to walk tomorrow.”
Out of the six players set to walk, all but one of them will be new to the program this year. For Eilert, his job as a coach goes further than the transfer portal, and despite WVU’s record, this season has not changed Eilert’s view on the coaching profession.
“At the end of the day it’s all about pouring yourself into young men that are going to become fathers, that are going to become husbands, and if you can have that positive impact, it goes way beyond basketball,” Eilert said.
“There’s certain few that might continue to play basketball off this roster as a career, but for the most part, the ball is going to stop bouncing for a lot of these guys. What they learned and the example I feel like I gave them as a person, as a father, as a husband, and lessons I taught them, I hope is something that carries on with them for years after their time here at West Virginia.”
WVU’s senior day ceremony is set to begin around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, with tip-off between WVU and TCU set for 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
