Josh Eilert praises RaeQuan Battle, pleads for more aggressive play as West Virginia leads Toledo at halftime

West Virginia is looking to get back on track against Toledo, following disappointing losses to Radford and UMass in back-to-back games.

The Mountaineers are off to a good start, leading the Rockets by 12 at halftime. However, head coach Josh Eilert believes the lead could be even bigger, if his team was more aggressive with the ball with Toledo in foul trouble, instead of “burping” shots late in the half.

“Late in the half, they didn’t really get my message,” Eilert told ESPN. “I was like, ‘We’re in the bonus. Let’s go downhill. Let’s attack them.’ They just kept on burping up shots. Not that they were bad shots, but they just weren’t falling for us, so why wouldn’t we be aggressive when we were in the bonus?”

Nevertheless, West Virginia leads, and it’s mainly due to RaeQuan Battle’s impressive first half, where he amassed 22 points. Eilert made sure to praise the guard, “He’s getting closer to 100%, and that’s the RaeQuan that you’re going to see,” he told ESPN.

We’ll see if West Virginia can hold on for their fifth win of the season throughout the second half. Toledo has been pesky, but the Mountaineers have come out determined so far.

West Virginia center Jesse Edwards out four weeks with wrist injury

Moreover, the hits have kept on coming for West Virginia’s 2023-24 basketball team as the Mountaineers lost their second-leading scorer and top rebounder for an extended period of time earlier this week. 

Monday afternoon, the team Twitter account posted news of a a fractured right wrist for starting center Jesse Edwards, a senior who transferred over from Syracuse. Here was the WVU statement on his injury: 

“West Virginia University fifth-year senior center Jesse Edwards will miss approximately four weeks due to a fractured right wrist, men’s basketball coach Josh Eilert announced today. Edwards will have surgery this week.”

Man oh man, what can you say? This Edwards news is the cherry on top of a sour luck sundae to start this season for the Mountaineer hoops program as he was averaging 14.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game through 10 contests in 2023-24.

We’ll see if the Mountaineers can rebound and get a win without Edwards on Saturday afternoon.