--West Virginia head coach Josh Eilert said he gave his team a couple days off to get their legs under them to prep for Houston. The past couple days they've gone hard and had some very competitive practices, now they will back off with an early game Saturday at Houston. They won't have a shootaround before the game, but they will practice on their court and they are excited to take on the challenges they provide.
--Eilert said that a lot of closing out games comes down to closing out possessions and with discipline. That's rebounding, the foul line, getting good shots when they need one instead of forces and those type of things. It's a game of inches in a lot of ways and what they can control they need to control. That's what West Virginia must do better to win close games.
--It shouldn't be this way, but West Virginia has rebounded better in the zone. The starting five is one of the bottom two rebounding combinations over the past three games but they obviously do a lot of other good things offensively. That is the unit on the floor the most and Eilert had the conversation that they need more production in that department.
--Houston is a very good defensive team. They are very physical and if you look at the numbers, points off turnovers and second chance points is like 37-points a game off those categories. The challenge will be to take care of the ball and make sure they don't have live ball turnovers so they can set their half court defense. This team is at their best when they can turn teams over.
--Cryer is their best offensive option and West Virginia needs to know where he is at on the floor.
--RaeQuan Battle has got more than he's already given and is a very coachable young man. He just wants to do whatever he can to help the team win whether that's scoring or any other thing. He can recover well on the defensive end but sometimes he takes chances. He is good with anticipation and running through passing lanes, so they can get more out of him and they can also use him as a decoy to draw the best defender to open other guys on the floor up.
--Josh Eilert said they are taking the cast off Jesse Edwards today and then doing some imaging to see how well it healed. The hope is that it is smooth sailing and he will be back in a couple weeks with the team.
--The performance against Ohio State is what Eilert expected out of Patrick Suemnick. The more time he gets on the floor the more comfortable he will get. He is one of the biggest, strongest guys on the floor so he is going to be critical for their success against Houston because of how physical they play.
--Jesse Edwards and Kerr Kriisa have a special connection with how Kriisa can deliver the ball and how Edwards plays. Akok Akok can rim run, but he's playing out of position right now and is trying to buy West Virginia minutes at that spot.
--Houston has been very physical against power five teams especially Texas A&M. You worry about how the game is going to be called and it is critical for West Virginia. If they let things go early, it will be to the Cougars benefit.
--Houston has 209 offensive rebounds this season and that is a huge concern in this game and without Jesse Edwards there is even more pressure on everybody else.
--Eilert planned on having Battle from day one so everything they did had him as part of the plan. Noah Farrakhan is the unique situation because they never planned for him to be on the floor at all. Now, the challenge is trying to figure out how to play with all of the pieces on the floor and be effective as a team without being one-sided. They need to find some secondary actions that will get everybody else involved.
--Quinn Slazinski isn't in a slump but he hasn't had the same comfort level on his shot. He told Eilert that he's got it back and it feels good in practice this week which is a good sign when it comes to confidence. He is a vital part of the offensive strategy moving forward and it's a rollercoaster at times when it comes to confidence and chemistry.
--For West Virginia the biggest thing right now is shot selection. They have to generate uncontested shots, because right now they are getting a lot of tough shots. They have to figure out a way to generate some easy baskets because it's too hard to take tough shots and outscore people in the half court over a season. He's not take a C shot when we can get a B shot late in the clock and they need to be more mindful of that.
--Eilert said that a lot of closing out games comes down to closing out possessions and with discipline. That's rebounding, the foul line, getting good shots when they need one instead of forces and those type of things. It's a game of inches in a lot of ways and what they can control they need to control. That's what West Virginia must do better to win close games.
--It shouldn't be this way, but West Virginia has rebounded better in the zone. The starting five is one of the bottom two rebounding combinations over the past three games but they obviously do a lot of other good things offensively. That is the unit on the floor the most and Eilert had the conversation that they need more production in that department.
--Houston is a very good defensive team. They are very physical and if you look at the numbers, points off turnovers and second chance points is like 37-points a game off those categories. The challenge will be to take care of the ball and make sure they don't have live ball turnovers so they can set their half court defense. This team is at their best when they can turn teams over.
--Cryer is their best offensive option and West Virginia needs to know where he is at on the floor.
--RaeQuan Battle has got more than he's already given and is a very coachable young man. He just wants to do whatever he can to help the team win whether that's scoring or any other thing. He can recover well on the defensive end but sometimes he takes chances. He is good with anticipation and running through passing lanes, so they can get more out of him and they can also use him as a decoy to draw the best defender to open other guys on the floor up.
--Josh Eilert said they are taking the cast off Jesse Edwards today and then doing some imaging to see how well it healed. The hope is that it is smooth sailing and he will be back in a couple weeks with the team.
--The performance against Ohio State is what Eilert expected out of Patrick Suemnick. The more time he gets on the floor the more comfortable he will get. He is one of the biggest, strongest guys on the floor so he is going to be critical for their success against Houston because of how physical they play.
--Jesse Edwards and Kerr Kriisa have a special connection with how Kriisa can deliver the ball and how Edwards plays. Akok Akok can rim run, but he's playing out of position right now and is trying to buy West Virginia minutes at that spot.
--Houston has been very physical against power five teams especially Texas A&M. You worry about how the game is going to be called and it is critical for West Virginia. If they let things go early, it will be to the Cougars benefit.
--Houston has 209 offensive rebounds this season and that is a huge concern in this game and without Jesse Edwards there is even more pressure on everybody else.
--Eilert planned on having Battle from day one so everything they did had him as part of the plan. Noah Farrakhan is the unique situation because they never planned for him to be on the floor at all. Now, the challenge is trying to figure out how to play with all of the pieces on the floor and be effective as a team without being one-sided. They need to find some secondary actions that will get everybody else involved.
--Quinn Slazinski isn't in a slump but he hasn't had the same comfort level on his shot. He told Eilert that he's got it back and it feels good in practice this week which is a good sign when it comes to confidence. He is a vital part of the offensive strategy moving forward and it's a rollercoaster at times when it comes to confidence and chemistry.
--For West Virginia the biggest thing right now is shot selection. They have to generate uncontested shots, because right now they are getting a lot of tough shots. They have to figure out a way to generate some easy baskets because it's too hard to take tough shots and outscore people in the half court over a season. He's not take a C shot when we can get a B shot late in the clock and they need to be more mindful of that.
