WVU rallies in second half to give Eilert first win
MORGANTOWN 鈥� It was just a few minutes before they rolled out the carpet at the Coliseum for the first time this year and the first time in the post-Bob Huggins era, and Josh Eilert was standing behind the West Virginia bench knowing his dream was about to become true.
His family was there, as he puts it a large, Catholic family. They鈥檇 come up the night before, 20 of them gathering at Oliverio鈥檚, Eilert learning the first lesson that comes with being a head coach.
He picked up the tab.
As he went down the row, hugging everyone, a thousand thoughts had to be dancing through his mind.
鈥淓verybody kept telling me, sending the same message, sit back and enjoy it, take in the scene and smile a little bit, but that鈥檚 easy to say, hard to do,鈥� he said.
Harder still the way his coaching career started, his team shooting 4 for 32 for a microscopic 12.5%, leaving them trailing 30-24.
鈥淢y spirit wasn鈥檛 flying high by any means in the first half,鈥� he admitted after the team put it together in the second half and escaped with a 67-59 victory over Missouri State before 9,601 fans. 鈥淚 was looking up at the ceiling, thinking 鈥榃hat have I gotten myself into?'鈥�
He found out what he鈥檇 gotten into after Seth Wilson ignited a quick turnaround at the start of the second half with 11 early points as the team made its first five shots out of the locker room, a situation he wouldn鈥檛 trade for all the GatorAde in the world.
In fact, he felt like he was covered in all the GatorAde in the world when the team showered him in a riotous post-game celebration.
鈥淚 had to change my shirt,鈥� Eilert said. 鈥淚t was more than just GatorAde in there. I couldn鈥檛 see for a couple of minutes. I love each and every one of these guys. There鈥檚 a reason they are part of our program, I have a lot of trust in them and I think it goes both ways.鈥�
So what happened at halftime to turn things around?
Well, to begin with Eilert had a message for his team.
鈥淚 told them there鈥檚 no way you can shoot any worse than that. I鈥檝e been on the staff here for 16 years and was thinking back to that Cincinnati game where we set a field goal percentage low at about 20%,鈥� he said in his post-game press conference. 鈥淚 told them you鈥檝e got to step up and shoot the ball with confidence.
鈥淐onfidence is so big in basketball. It can make or break you and I鈥檓 not the type of coach who will wear them down. I鈥檓 going to try to build them up as much as I can. There鈥檚 an immense amount of pressure on these guys.鈥�
There was pressure because of the coaching change situation, losing a Hall of Fame coach, and because the roster had changed not once, but twice. He was shorthanded, only eight scholarship players available, being without point guard Kerr Kriisa, under a nine-game NCAA suspension; the ill Akok Akok, on whom there is no news available, and RaeQuan Battle, still awaiting word on his request for a waiver to the transfer rule.
That could explain the poor first half as they got their feet on the ground, but facing such long odds, they still managed to handle the adversity as they went into the locker room at halftime.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want this to sound the wrong way, but it was borderline hilarious,鈥� said the team鈥檚 high scorer Quinn Slazinski with 18 points and 7 rebounds. 鈥淚t felt like we were going to set a world record (for bad shooting).鈥�
They didn鈥檛 panic. They gathered together and rallied together and came out and shot 58.1% in the second half.
鈥淭here are basketball gods,鈥� Slazinski said. 鈥淚f you play the game the right way, they will reward you.鈥�
And that was what happened. As Eilert would point out, his first career win wasn鈥檛 easy, but when it came down to the final moments, even with Wilson benched with leg cramps, they put it together and ended with a bang.
Leading by 2, Slazinski made a driving layup and after Missouri State answered with a three, JoJo Harris took a pass from Israel freshman Ofri Naveh for a dunk and then they brought the house down as they broke loose with a lob pass to Naveh who went high and deflected it to an open, speeding Harris who crashed home another dunk.