WVU hosts Toledo with hopes it can solidify some chemistry in a hurry

MORGANTOWN — It is one of the few things in this world you can run out of without having it to begin with.

Time.

It is no longer on the side of the WVU men’s basketball team and its head coach Josh Eilert, yet it’s the one thing the Mountaineers need the most.

WVU STATS

“We’re trying to figure out our new identity offensively,” Eilert said. “It’ll come with some time. Not that it’s an excuse, but that’s where we’re at right now. Figure out that identity and that chemistry that is going to make us good in the end.”

The revolving door has never stopped for WVU (4-7), which hosts Toledo (6-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday inside the Coliseum.

When it’s all said and done, WVU may wind up with four or five all-Big 12-type players in its lineup.

The kicker is none of them — Quinn Slazinski, Noah Farrakhan, Kerr Kriisa, RaeQuan Battle or Jesse Edwards — all played together in so much as one game.

That may not change until late January or early February, as Edwards recovers from surgery on his right wrist.

And while Edwards established himself as the team’s go-to guy over the first two months of the season, he did so without Battle and Kriisa in the lineup.

Both guards will play today. Battle will be coming off his 29-point debut against Radford, held the same day Edwards was being operated on.

Kriisa scored 20 points in his season debut, but then struggled to score a game later when Battle made his debut.

“It’s going to click soon,” Battle said. “All it takes is a little bit of time and chemistry and trust with each other. It’s going to jell pretty soon.”

How soon is the question?

“Normally, it doesn’t take a long time,” Battle continued. “You just have to buy into what the coaches are telling you. If you’re paying attention in practice and get your reps in like you should, it should be second nature.”

The flip side to the coin is Eilert just isn’t working in three new guys — four if you count forward Akok Akok, who missed seven games this season with a medical condition.

He’s also got players like Josiah Harris, Kobe Johnson and Seth Wilson, who were playing more than 30 minutes a game to start the season, but now find themselves with different roles.

“Getting some other guys some minutes that have to step up to help us is certainly a challenge, especially with the short time frame,” Eilert said. “I’ve said it over and over I’m a planning guy. I try to be organized and plan things, but every time I have a plan, a wrench gets thrown in it.”

WVU was ranked No. 200 in the NCAA NET rankings Friday, the lowest of any Big 12 school.

Getting that turned around would be enough of a chore for any coach, let alone one like Eilert, who has yet to have a full deck of cards at his disposal.

“It’s been change after change, and like I said, there’s been a lot of wrenches thrown into the process,” Eilert said. “I’m growing as a coach and as a person. I’m going to continue to fight like hell every day for our guys to make sure they are competing and playing the right way.

“I think we can get some of this chemistry built. We need some consistency out on the floor. We’re not there yet.”