West Virginia allowed 18 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points against St. John’s but still trailed by just a basket with two minutes remaining.

The Mountaineers struggled to keep the Red Storm off the glass, especially with big Jesse Edwards dealing with foul trouble that limited him to just 25 minutes. Free throw shooting became an issue late as well as West Virginia missed 10 of their 12 misfires in the second frame.

It was many of the same issues that have plagued this team throughout according to head coach Josh Eilert. And ultimately those miscues proved too costly to overcome as the Mountaineers gave themselves little chance to win the basketball game despite playing with a strong effort.

“Give up 18 offensive rebounds to a team like that, give them 26 second-chance points and you’re not going to have a chance to win the game. And we really did had we made some free throws down the stretch and cleaned up some of those things we’ve been trying to sure up the entire season,” Eilert said.

West Virginia fought on the glass but was simply outmanned without Edwards on the floor.

“With size and strength and fresh legs. It’s a shame we couldn’t clean up two or three of those,” Eilert said. “Eighteen is just hard to overcome. You come up with three or four more possessions that you didn’t give them a second chance we probably win that ball game.”

On the offensive end, there was a general lack of ball movement as the Mountaineers broke down into trying to score in one-on-one situations. The final result was just 6 assists compared to 12 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Red Storm had just 6 turnovers with 15 total assists on 29 made baskets.

Related: What WVU needs to do when Jesse Edwards can't score the ball

“It’s just not sustainable to try to score everything one-on-one,” he said.

Depth once again became an issue, as St John’s played 11 different players and were aggressive on both ends of the floor fully aware of that advantage. The Mountaineers relied on basically seven throughout, although reserve guard Jeremiah Bembry did see the floor for a minute.

It also didn’t help matters that one of those in junior Seth Wilson also struggled going 0-11 from the floor with zero assists and a pair of turnovers in 28 minutes of action.

“He is what he is at this point and we’re trying to get everything we can out of him at this point,” he said.

Reinforcements are on the way with point guard Kerr Kriisa set to return after just two more games and the possibility that forward Akok Akok could make his way back after his medical emergency as well as the potential of RaeQuan Battle seeing the floor at some point. But that time isn’t now.

Fatigue is an issue, but it doesn’t help matters that St. John’s beat the Mountaineers to loose balls and played with more grit than Eilert’s club down the stretch.

“Keep fighting. We’re not about to back down, keep fighting. We’ve got challenges but I’m not going to make excuses. Keep fighting and figuring out a way, there’s help coming, and there will be to a certain extent but it’s not here yet. So, we’re not a victim, the situation is what it is we’ll go out there and battle every possession,” Eilert said.

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