As the interim coach at Utah, Josh Eilert finds himself in the unusual position of facing the team he guided on an interim basis last year.
Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, Eilert leads Utah (16-13, 8-10 Big 12) against West Virginia (17-12, 8-10), the team he coached under difficult circumstances last year after the resignation of Bob Huggins.
Last week, Eilert was tabbed for interim duty again after Utah fired Craig Smith.
Upon his promotion from an assistant role, Eilert said that stepping into the West Virginia job last year was much more challenging given the timing of Huggins’ departure in the summer.
The result was a 9-23 record as the Mountaineers lost more games than any season in program history.
On Saturday, Utah ran away from Arizona State, 99-73, as Ezra Ausar powered inside for 25 points and Keanu Dawes added 15 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Afterward, Eilert praised his players’ positivity.
“They’re not a bunch of guys who are out there for themselves,” he said. “The fact that they are still locking in on their teammates shows the character of the guys that Coach Smith brought into this program.”
The Utes and Mountaineers are among a jumble of teams vying to finish among the top eight in the Big 12 and earn a first-round bye in next week’s conference tournament.
West Virginia has lost eight of its last 12, including a humbling 77-56 defeat Saturday night at then-No. 25 BYU.
Several Big 12 teams have discovered the difficulty of the Utah two-step — playing the Cougars and the Utes on the same road trip. Kansas, Kansas State, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State each were swept making the two-game swing.
To avoid the same fate, West Virginia will turn to senior guard Javon Small (18.2 ppg, 5.5 apg) and hope that Eduardo Andre and Amani Hansberry can limit the Utes’ interior strength, which includes the 6-foot-9 Dawes, 6-8 Ausar and 7-1 Lawson Lovering.
The Mountaineers struggled to stop BYU’s reserve center Fousseyni Traore, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds. He helped the Cougars dominate the glass 43-32 and gain a 46-22 edge in points in the paint.
“It’s kind of one of those, you have to pick something,” West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said of his team’s focus on limiting the Cougars’ 3-point opportunities.
–Field Level Media
