Apologize for the delay, just got home a little bit ago it's been a looooooong day.
--West Virginia is now 4-7 and it’s the first time they’ve lost seven non-conference games in at least 30-years. Yes, this team has been hit with a long list of unfortunate circumstances to get to this stage but at some point you have to make your own luck in a sense and the Mountaineers just aren’t doing that. Granted this one was especially cruel with a missed front-end of a one-and-one leading a desperation heave, but in the end it’s just another tough loss for a team looking for any sort of momentum right now. Does West Virginia win this game with Jesse Edwards? Most likely, but instead the program is now 0-2 since the news that the Mountaineers would be able to get back their options, albeit still being less than full strength. But again, nobody is going to feel sorry for what’s happened.
--RaeQuan Battle scored 29 points in his debut, but it took 22 shots to get there. You can see that he has the ability to score and create his own shot better than most in recent memory, but he also forced quite a bit in this game when he didn’t need to. I chalk some of that up to rust, but he’s got to have better shot selection. Still, outside that and the missed free throw, it was really encouraging to see him come out and make an immediate impact after fighting to get his way back on the floor. He should only be better but shot selection was not a strength in this one. And really that can be said for most of the team. They were 4-21 from three and 21-40 from two. One of those things is not like the other.
--Noah Farrakhan was 7-10 in this game after going 7-11 in the opener. He’s really good on the offensive end and is very quick to the rim. Anytime somebody is going 14-21 in two games, it’s impressive. Perhaps even more impressive is he finished this game with 7 rebounds, which was tied for the team lead. As this team continues to gel and settle into roles, it’s exciting what the backcourt could do.
--Those two guards combined for 45 of the 65 points and made 16 of the 25 shots, granted they also took 32 of the 61. But the rest of the roster didn’t provide much offensively. This team really is trying to reinvent itself right now and seemed out of sorts and sloppy at times. That should get better as they continue to play together but this is only going to get more difficult even if they do improve.
--This was the first time that Quinn Slazinski just couldn’t make shots. He was 2-10 but did collect seven rebounds and made impacts in other ways.
--Kerr Kriisa wasn’t at his best in this game with 6 assists and 4 turnovers. He only took 4 shots but made only one of those and it wasn’t his best decision-making. West Virginia needs him at his best without Edwards on the floor. Overall, West Virginia only had a total of 7 turnovers as a team though.
--West Virginia was once again outrebounded by 8 and allowed 12 offensive rebounds to Radford. This team continues to struggle to get rebounds and it’s going to continue to cost this team. Without Edwards, three players finished with 7 rebounds but there has to be more consistency there.
--Felt West Virginia got some solid minutes from Patrick Suemnick. He led the team at +5. But thought it was odd that they went to him in a clutch situation there.
--Ofri Naveh really plays hard and has a ton of potential, but he really needs an off-season of strength and conditioning to round out his game. Still, I’ve been really encouraged overall with his future.
--Only 12 assists on those 25 made baskets.
--Onto the next one and that’s Toledo. West Virginia is going to have to change their fortunes if they want to turn this ship around and they’re running out of time to build any momentum prior to the start of the Big 12 Conference gauntlet that awaits. That one at home is almost a must-win at this point.
--West Virginia is now 4-7 and it’s the first time they’ve lost seven non-conference games in at least 30-years. Yes, this team has been hit with a long list of unfortunate circumstances to get to this stage but at some point you have to make your own luck in a sense and the Mountaineers just aren’t doing that. Granted this one was especially cruel with a missed front-end of a one-and-one leading a desperation heave, but in the end it’s just another tough loss for a team looking for any sort of momentum right now. Does West Virginia win this game with Jesse Edwards? Most likely, but instead the program is now 0-2 since the news that the Mountaineers would be able to get back their options, albeit still being less than full strength. But again, nobody is going to feel sorry for what’s happened.
--RaeQuan Battle scored 29 points in his debut, but it took 22 shots to get there. You can see that he has the ability to score and create his own shot better than most in recent memory, but he also forced quite a bit in this game when he didn’t need to. I chalk some of that up to rust, but he’s got to have better shot selection. Still, outside that and the missed free throw, it was really encouraging to see him come out and make an immediate impact after fighting to get his way back on the floor. He should only be better but shot selection was not a strength in this one. And really that can be said for most of the team. They were 4-21 from three and 21-40 from two. One of those things is not like the other.
--Noah Farrakhan was 7-10 in this game after going 7-11 in the opener. He’s really good on the offensive end and is very quick to the rim. Anytime somebody is going 14-21 in two games, it’s impressive. Perhaps even more impressive is he finished this game with 7 rebounds, which was tied for the team lead. As this team continues to gel and settle into roles, it’s exciting what the backcourt could do.
--Those two guards combined for 45 of the 65 points and made 16 of the 25 shots, granted they also took 32 of the 61. But the rest of the roster didn’t provide much offensively. This team really is trying to reinvent itself right now and seemed out of sorts and sloppy at times. That should get better as they continue to play together but this is only going to get more difficult even if they do improve.
--This was the first time that Quinn Slazinski just couldn’t make shots. He was 2-10 but did collect seven rebounds and made impacts in other ways.
--Kerr Kriisa wasn’t at his best in this game with 6 assists and 4 turnovers. He only took 4 shots but made only one of those and it wasn’t his best decision-making. West Virginia needs him at his best without Edwards on the floor. Overall, West Virginia only had a total of 7 turnovers as a team though.
--West Virginia was once again outrebounded by 8 and allowed 12 offensive rebounds to Radford. This team continues to struggle to get rebounds and it’s going to continue to cost this team. Without Edwards, three players finished with 7 rebounds but there has to be more consistency there.
--Felt West Virginia got some solid minutes from Patrick Suemnick. He led the team at +5. But thought it was odd that they went to him in a clutch situation there.
--Ofri Naveh really plays hard and has a ton of potential, but he really needs an off-season of strength and conditioning to round out his game. Still, I’ve been really encouraged overall with his future.
--Only 12 assists on those 25 made baskets.
--Onto the next one and that’s Toledo. West Virginia is going to have to change their fortunes if they want to turn this ship around and they’re running out of time to build any momentum prior to the start of the Big 12 Conference gauntlet that awaits. That one at home is almost a must-win at this point.
