Josh Eilert challenged his West Virginia basketball team after the disappointing loss to Monmouth.
After a mandatory day off in order to gather themselves, the Mountaineers spent about an hour in the film room and got into the trenches on what needed to be done to correct the mistakes.
“When we came out they responded. They responded in a really good way,” Eilert said.
The combination of the approach, energy and enthusiasm shown by his team was encouraging to the first year head coach especially when it comes to flipping the page. The result?
The most complete game of the season in a 70-57 win over Jacksonville State which Eilert simply referred to as a buy-in game from his team. It wasn’t perfect, but the Mountaineers found a way to respond and get back into the win column.
West Virginia shot 51-percent from the field with 16 assists on 23 made baskets and got contributions from basically every player that saw the floor.
The only change came with freshman Ofri Naveh being inserted into the starting lineup over Seth Wilson which was done to get the right combinations on the floor to help with defensive rebounding.
The Mountaineers made it a point on offense to get the basketball to center Jessee Edwards as much as possible and it paid off with 14 points while drawing a total of 10 fouls in only 6 shots. Junior point guard Kobe Johnson also chimed in with a career best 19 points with 5 assists and one turnover.
“He’s always been really steady. You knew you could count on him but you have to get more aggression out of him,” Eilert said.
On the defensive end, the Mountaineers held Jacksonville State to just 34-percent from the field with a healthy dose of 2-3 zone. The move was made in order to save their legs and it allowed them to play more downhill and with pace on both ends of the floor.
“We picked up a few things that we could nail down. We didn’t get overly complicated with it,” he said.
The Mountaineers also were more intune with the scouting report which helped those on the floor to be more mindful on who to guard and who to back off from on the defensive end.
West Virginia will now have six days off before their next game which is a welcomed break after playing three games over a nine day period. That is difficult, but made even harder with the current state of this roster and concerns over the depth.
Still, the past couple days have shown Eilert that while the chemistry is still developing on the floor his team is certainly getting back in the right place. .
“They’re close, we just have to get the chemistry on the floor,” he said.
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