Short-handed West Virginia takes on Bellarmine

Field Level Media|published: Sat 25th November, 21:36 2023

Nov 22, 2023; Fort Myers, FL, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers forward Quinn Slazinski (11) drives to the hoop past Virginia Cavaliers guard Ryan Dunn (13) in the second half during the Fort Myers Tip-Off third place game at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. credits: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The identity of West Virginia's basketball team is beginning to take shape. The Mountaineers hope a clearer picture will result in more wins as they host Bellarmine on Sunday afternoon in Morgantown, W.Va.

The Mountaineers (2-3) have been short on depth due to the absence of multiple players. Kerr Kriisa is expected to join the team after serving four more games of a nine-game suspension, but beyond him, the Mountaineers don't know if RaeQuan Battle will be granted eligibility or Akok Akok will return from an offseason incident in which he collapsed on the court.

That has left the team overly reliant on two players, Quinn Slazinski (16.4 ppg) and Jesse Edwards (15.6 ppg) to provide the bulk of the scoring. As a result, West Virginia has yet to score more than 70 points this season, but the Mountaineers also haven't given up more than 73.

In their 56-54 loss to Virginia in the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Wednesday, the Mountaineers held the 24th-ranked Cavaliers to 40.4 percent shooting, including just 22.2 percent from 3-point range (4 of 18), and won the rebounding battle 41-28, but they were undone by 16 turnovers that led to 18 Cavaliers points.

A late foul provided the two-point margin of defeat.

"I've been happy with the way we're competing," West Virginia head coach Josh Eilert said. "We've just got to figure out a way to get over that hump, be more disciplined down the stretch, take care of the ball a little better, and figure out a way to come out of these games with victories."

Bellarmine (2-4) has played two major conference opponents this season, getting blitzed 91-57 at Washington in the Knights' season opener before improving on that effort with an 83-75 road loss at Kansas State.

In that game, Bash Wieland (9.5 ppg) came off the bench to score 17 points as the Knights outscored the Wildcats in the second half, 44-37.

In their most recent outing, the Knights defeated NAIA school Midway 77-56, as Bellarmine leading scorer Ben Johnson (13.8 ppg) notched 18.

West Virginia previously defeated Bellarmine 74-55 in a home game during the 2021-22 season.

—Field Level Media