West Virginia using break to prepare for stretch run
Josh Eilert doesn’t hide the fact that a break would be a good thing for his team.
The West Virginia basketball team sits at 8-14 overall and 3-6 in the Big 12 Conference and it’s been a 22-game stretch full of challenges. Eilert inherited a roster in flux with a long list of well-documented hurdles that have had to be overcome to even get to where they currently find themselves.
By now if you’ve followed this team you’re well aware of what has unfolded but it’s simply part of the story that has brought this team to where it is currently at this season. In fact, it took 21 games for the Mountaineers to finally have their full complement of players available to them.
And with those changes on the floor, it has meant major adjustments to the available rotations and style of play for this team throughout the course of the year. It would be a tough assignment for any coach, especially one in his first year atop the program in an interim role.
There are only nine games left in the regular season, but before the Mountaineers dive headfirst into what’s left on the schedule they are afforded a break in the schedule. A full-calendar week will pass before West Virginia takes the floor against Texas this weekend and it’s something that Eilert believes will benefit his team greatly as they look to make the most of what’s left.
“It’s time for a week off. We need to get our legs under us and work on what we can work on, especially going into a two-game road trip,” Eilert said.
The head coach points to the previous game against BYU and how the Cougars played both fresh and rejuvenated after having their off-week prior to beating the Mountaineers. The hope is that West Virginia uses that time to get their legs under them before the stretch run.
West Virginia had won three consecutive home games prior to dropping that game against the Cougars, but the focus is on trying to make the most of what remains.
The time off also will afford the team the opportunity to develop more chemistry on the floor and become more comfortable with one another. That doesn’t seem like it should be an issue at this stage of things but given all of the changes it has been impossible to form that as players have moved in and out of the lineup throughout the first 22 games.
Eilert has embraced the ups and downs of the position and understands that from a program standpoint, you can’t get too high with success or too low with struggles.
“We’ve got to find a baseline consistency and fight each and every day for that growth as a team,” he said. “So that’s the name of the game at this point. Find a way to get better.”
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
