Feb 1, 2024 By Bob Hertzel 4 min read

MORGANTOWN — Bob Huggins had his rear-view mirror story that became a part of West Virginia basketball lore, an oft-told tale from his youth of how he once was given a ride by a guy named Phil in the tiny town of Midvale, Ohio.

Phil was driving a pickup truck and Huggins noticed it had no rear-view mirror.

When Huggins asked about it, the reply was classic.

“We’re not going backwards.”

His successor, Josh Eilert, who inherited the job on an interim basis when Huggins twice lost his bearings last summer, has his own version of that same story and if ever a team needed such a perspective on their situation, it is the team he is coaching this season.

Now, Eilert isn’t quite the storyteller that Huggins is,

Who is?

But his point is much the same as Huggins’ and after breaking a two-game losing streak with a tense, 69-65 victory over Cincinnati at the WVU Coliseum Wednesday, looking forward and not backward is about the only way the Mountaineers get through a season gone astray.

The Mountaineers went about reestablishing who they were by putting Jesse Edwards back in the starting lineup after missing five weeks with a broken wrist, turning loose the pick and roll game between him and Kerr Kriisa that had been absent all year, and played with renewed vigor.

Edwards scored 25 points, one of them being his 1,000th point in a career at Syracuse and West Virginia, and certainly showed that he’s been the missing ingredient necessary to turn the season around.

“Like I like to tell our guys right now, we have a lot to play for and a lot to prove as we progress through the conference season, because now we have everybody,” Eilert said in a press conference on Monday.

“Let’s kind of flush the past and strive for growth every day and try to figure out how we maximize the potential of this team.”

The difference between this team with Edwards playing 29 minutes and the past games was evident in every facet of the game, but none more important than the realization that this game saw it wipe out a 10-point deficit in the last six minutes and go on to a four-point victory.

“Down the stretch we were down 10, I think it was the first time all year that we’ve had a double-digit deficit and had enough resolve, enough resilience, and enough poise to make that comeback and get a victory,” Eilert said. “Credit to our guys for staying in it and staying positive and grinding one possession out at a time to get us the victory.”

“We played good,” said Kerr, who had 10 points. seven assists and three steals, many of those assists on pick and roll plays ending with a lob and dunk connection with Edwards. “I don’t think we played outstanding but we played good enough to get a win. It was a gritty game and we gritted that one out, which I am very proud of.”

All season long WVU had been dominated in the paint and Cincinnati is a big, strong, hard rebounding team, but in this game with Edwards back full time the Mountaineers outscored the Bearcats, 34-30, inside.

“I tried to instill some confidence in him,” Eilert said, speaking after he missed some early free throws. “I told him we’re not playing any different. We’re going to play aggressive and play to win. If you end up at the line, we’ll live.

“So, he had all the confidence in the world and from there on out, 25 and 10. It’s a difference maker having Jesse on the floor,” Eilert continued.

“I can’t imagine with a rebounding team like that, not having Jesse. With the way he can rim run and the threat of a rim run early is going to open up everybody on the floor and should go to play inside out. Kind of the way I envisioned playing from the beginning.”

And so, they are taking this game, this moment as a new start to try and make a point and impact in the Big 12, whether it be spoiler down the stretch or a factor in the Big 12 Championships.

Being reborn is a whole lot better than just accepting defeat.