Mountaineers Now Postgame Show: Eilert Grabs First Career Win
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello everybody and welcome to the Mountaineers
00:12 now post game show basketball edition.
00:15 And I've got Christopher Hall with me, Skylar Callahan
00:18 here to break down West Virginia and Missouri State
00:21 Mountaineers coming out on top in the season over 67 to 59.
00:26 Josh Eilert getting his first win in game number one,
00:30 first game post Bob Huggins era.
00:32 So look at the numbers in this one.
00:34 Jesse Edwards and his debut goes for 13 points,
00:38 13 rebounds on three blocks.
00:40 Quincy Lesinski led the way with 18 points
00:43 on fourth 10 shooting, seven points chance more
00:46 the leading scorer for Missouri State
00:48 going for 24 on the night.
00:50 West Virginia ended up shooting 22 of 63 for the evening.
00:54 There were four of 32 at the half.
00:56 We'll get into that for sure.
00:58 But the one stat that really kind of popped off the page
01:01 here to me, Chris, is the turnovers.
01:03 Only seven of them in this game for West Virginia,
01:05 13 combined between the two.
01:07 That's typically about half the number
01:10 of what we've seen for West Virginia over the years.
01:13 So I guess out of all the bad things
01:15 that this team has gone through
01:16 and all the depth issues that they still have
01:19 and all the concerns that there is with this team,
01:21 and it is one game, it is Missouri State,
01:24 but you got to feel pretty good about the team
01:26 only having seven turnovers
01:29 and that being without Kirk Griese.
01:33 I mean, Missouri State didn't really apply pressure
01:35 defensively, so I wouldn't really take too much of that.
01:40 Yeah, you know, it was just one of those nights
01:43 where you saw in the first half
01:45 where they just weren't all on the same page.
01:46 They probably all felt pressure to score.
01:49 You could see it the way they were playing,
01:51 you know, kind of hero ball.
01:52 Tyler mentioned it after the game
01:54 that they were just pressing too much,
01:56 trying to score, trying to force the issue.
01:58 So I saw right on the second half
02:00 when they ran the offense correctly,
02:02 they executed better and they got better looks.
02:04 I mean, they just weren't even taking good shots
02:07 in the first half.
02:08 So that was pretty much the main attributor,
02:10 just trying to force the issue, trying to win one-on-ones,
02:12 which they should have won a lot of those one-on-ones.
02:17 They're the bigger, more athletic team.
02:18 So I think that's probably a little bit concerning,
02:21 even if they're trying to win on one-on-ones
02:23 when they shouldn't, need to just run the sets,
02:25 but they should win those battles.
02:28 Also concerned that, you know,
02:29 they didn't feed Jesse Edwards a huge advantage.
02:33 Huge advantage there underneath.
02:35 And I would like to see them clear out one side
02:38 and overload the other.
02:40 I know that's kind of an old Bob Huggins play,
02:41 but when your guy's seven foot,
02:43 and the closest guy they've got near is about six nine,
02:46 you just got to force feed him the ball a little bit,
02:48 let him work.
02:50 They're all going to crash down,
02:51 and then he can find -- he's a good enough passer
02:53 where he can find the open shooter on the outside.
02:55 So I would mention that after the game,
02:58 they need to get him more touches.
03:00 He did have three turnovers,
03:02 and only had seven shots out of that.
03:05 So really need to get him the ball more underneath, I believe.
03:10 I know it's going to be tougher in the Big 12.
03:12 They're going to have guys close to his size,
03:14 and you got to find ways
03:16 of how are you going to get him the ball,
03:18 because they're not going to make it easy
03:20 for you to get him the even ball down in the post in the Big 12.
03:23 So got to work on that with these smaller teams.
03:27 Yeah, exactly.
03:28 Especially when you don't have Kirk Reese out there,
03:31 you're without Rayquan Battle for potentially the whole season
03:34 or at least the start of it.
03:36 Akook Akook is out.
03:37 So you've got three starters in this lineup
03:40 that are not available.
03:42 You've got to be able to find ways
03:43 to get the best man on the floor of the ball.
03:47 But the biggest concern for me,
03:49 and it was pretty much a concern I think of everybody
03:52 coming into this season was,
03:54 unless Rayquan Battle is out there,
03:56 who's going to be that guy that is the go-to bucket?
03:59 I mean, outside of Jesse Edwards,
04:00 you can feed him in the post all day long,
04:02 but when teams in Big 12 play and even some of the teams
04:05 that they'll see here in non-conference play,
04:07 like an SMU or Pitt,
04:09 they're going to double down on Jesse,
04:10 and they're going to get all their attention on him.
04:12 So who's going to be the guy that opens up the floor?
04:15 Is that Seth Wilson?
04:16 I mean, that to me is probably my first guess, right?
04:20 Yeah, Quinn, he can shoot more outside.
04:23 He has to do a little bit more inside.
04:26 Offer didn't get enough shots up, I think.
04:28 I mean, they were kind of up in his grill earlier.
04:30 They knew he could shoot.
04:31 But, yeah, I mean, you're looking at Seth with her.
04:34 I mean, that's pretty much it from your guards, I believe.
04:37 I think, again, you can get a lot more offense from Quinn.
04:40 He did have 18 points.
04:41 A lot of it came from the free-throw line.
04:42 But I like the way he's aggressive,
04:44 and I like the way he can pop it from outside.
04:47 And honestly, he might be the best shooter on the team
04:50 if you're kind of looking at the whole group.
04:53 So Seth, he's going to score in spurts.
04:56 He did in the second half kind of give him that
04:59 kind of a little bit of cushion.
05:02 There, I think at the midway point,
05:03 I think it was seven points, whatever.
05:04 He hit back-to-back threes,
05:05 and that's what you expect from Seth.
05:07 Kind of just flip momentum real quick
05:08 on a couple of positions with a couple of threes,
05:10 and all of a sudden, they're off and running.
05:12 And you kind of get the other team running frantically.
05:16 Credit to Missouri State.
05:17 That's a team that returned three of their leading scorers.
05:20 They never got flustered.
05:22 They just stayed within themselves.
05:25 I know his first name is Dan, the head coach.
05:27 He's a good coach. He's kind of turned that program around.
05:29 I think they kind of got snubbed this year
05:30 in the preseason rankings.
05:31 They were picked sixth.
05:33 Don't have a lot of size.
05:34 Kind of mentioned that with Edwards.
05:35 But that's a team that really, when you look at it,
05:37 there's one of the kind of scary teams
05:39 that they can make a run in their postseason tournament,
05:41 and they can kind of be that team that, you know,
05:44 knocks off a second seed or a three seed
05:46 just because they do can get us off from chance more tonight.
05:50 I mean, that might be a better team this season
05:53 than it kind of went on paper,
05:55 but it's not an excuse for West Virginia.
05:57 You know, we saw last year it took them a while
05:59 to get, you know, gel together,
06:01 and they played really well at the end of the year.
06:04 You don't know.
06:05 You knew what you were getting from Huggins.
06:06 You don't know what you're getting from Iler.
06:09 It's a different offense.
06:11 We'll see.
06:13 They got the first win, and just kind of take the wins
06:16 that you can get them at this point.
06:18 Yeah, I mean, I don't think at the end of the season
06:20 this game's going to end up being a quad one win
06:22 by any means, but, I mean, like you said,
06:24 I think this is a much better team than advertised,
06:26 and I think can make some noise in the Missouri Valley Conference,
06:30 especially -- I mean, in those things,
06:32 it just takes one team to get hot.
06:33 I mean, we've seen it before.
06:35 Teams that are the bottom seed
06:36 in some of those mid to low major conferences,
06:39 they could have nine or ten wins all year,
06:41 and they're somehow playing in the title game.
06:43 So, I mean, who knows?
06:45 But I think that team, they're better than a 17-15 record
06:49 than they were a year ago,
06:50 at least just from what we saw from one game.
06:53 We'll see. There's still a lot to be played.
06:55 That could be also because of West Virginia
06:58 not being at their best, but from Josh Iler
07:02 and what you saw from him, I mean, I get it.
07:05 It's one game. It's a very small sample size,
07:07 but how do you feel like he managed the game,
07:09 rotations, lineups, minutes, just the flow of the game?
07:13 He threw a two-three zone at there at one point.
07:15 Just how do you think he did in his first game?
07:18 I think he's all right. I mean, I can only imagine
07:20 his first time, again, without Huggins.
07:23 Yeah.
07:24 There's a big shadow overcasting this place right now,
07:28 and that is Bob Huggins.
07:30 So I think with everything that's kind of happened
07:32 and all the pressure, you know, you want to get that first win
07:35 to kind of get that going, and I think he did fine.
07:39 I like the way they're trying to mix up defenses.
07:41 It might be a little too early to try to throw so much out there.
07:44 They definitely got confused and left some guys open.
07:47 Iler mentioned, you know, there was four --
07:50 went into a two-three zone.
07:51 There's four guys on one side of the floor,
07:53 so maybe threw a little too much at them early,
07:57 but really it's a learning experience.
07:59 When you throw a bunch of them out there,
08:01 it will make it easier for them down the road.
08:03 So I think he did fine with all the emotions
08:05 and everything that's going on surrounding this program.
08:08 I thought he did fine.
08:09 Obviously, they shot 432 in the first half,
08:12 and for them to come out and play much better,
08:15 that credits -- that gives credit to the staff
08:18 in keeping them calm.
08:20 I know the players, you know, they praised Offrey a lot.
08:24 There's a freshman coming off the floor,
08:26 I guess he was saying, "Hey, guys,
08:27 don't fall the second that shot's a fall.
08:29 It's not a big deal."
08:30 19-year-old kid who just came in the program
08:33 playing above his age.
08:36 So he did great.
08:38 I think he did good.
08:39 I don't want to say great.
08:40 I think he did good, managed it as bad as --
08:42 poorly as they started it.
08:43 Really could have went sideways that second half,
08:45 and it does help when you start making shots
08:47 and you shoot 58% in the second half.
08:50 Kind of helps that a little bit better,
08:52 but, hey, he got them to execute
08:53 because they were not executing the first half at all,
08:55 and they got much better looks, step-in shots.
08:57 That's where Seth -- he's not an off-the-dribble guy.
09:00 I haven't really seen -- maybe he is.
09:01 I haven't seen him from it yet.
09:03 But when he can step in and shoot,
09:05 that's when he's dangerous.
09:06 So that's really what they need to do.
09:09 They didn't really work off the ball,
09:10 I felt, very well in the first half.
09:12 A little better second half.
09:13 That's really where Seth needs to improve in his game,
09:15 to just get open when he's off the ball,
09:18 get -- come tight off that screen
09:19 so he can get a step-in three-pointer.
09:22 Yeah, I mean, 14 minutes and seven-second drought.
09:25 I mean, that's --
09:26 you're not going to win a whole lot of basketball games
09:28 when you go that long without making a basket.
09:30 But, I mean, obviously, it's Missouri State.
09:33 It's, you know, first game of the season,
09:35 and you're figuring things out.
09:37 I don't want to give excuses,
09:39 but, I mean, they're going to have to figure something out.
09:41 But, I mean, for Isler, I agree.
09:43 I think he did everything he could.
09:44 He played everybody he could in this game.
09:46 They technically have nine guys available.
09:48 The only player that did not play was Ali Ragab,
09:50 who is the transfer from Gannon University,
09:53 who is pretty much just more like a body,
09:57 no disrespect to Ali,
09:59 but he's a little far away from where they need him to be.
10:02 And in a game that was tightly contested throughout,
10:05 there was just no chance in him getting into the game.
10:07 So maybe in one of these games coming up here on the schedule
10:10 before they get into the Fort Myers tip-off,
10:12 they can maybe get him involved if they get a big lead.
10:13 They're all going to be close.
10:15 But that's the thing.
10:17 They may -- you might sense a theme here
10:20 as we get deeper into non-conference play,
10:22 that this team is probably not going to get
10:24 any comfortable leads on anybody.
10:27 So we'll see what happens.
10:28 That'll do it for us here tonight on "Mountaineers Now,"
10:30 a post-game show presented by Country Roads Air Duct Cleaning.
10:33 Again, West Virginia winners 67 to 59.
10:36 We'll be back at it on Friday night
10:38 as the Mountaineers host Monmouth,
10:40 and that one's at 7 o'clock on ESPN+.
10:43 And then also a post-game show following West Virginia
10:47 and Oklahoma on Saturday for the football game.
10:49 So busy week for us here at "Mountaineers Now."
10:52 Be sure you're following all of our content on YouTube
10:56 at "Mountaineers Now" by hitting that subscribe button
10:58 and give us a follow on X at the same handle.
11:01 So for Christopher Hall, I'm Skylar Callan.
11:03 Thank you guys for watching.
11:04 We'll see you back here on Friday night.
11:06 Take care.
11:08 ♪♪
11:16 (upbeat music)