Eduardo Andre Stepping Up When WVU Needs Him the Most

In what has been a great start to the year for WVU basketball, perhaps no Mountaineer has had a better in-season success story than backup center Eduardo Andre.

In just a couple of months, Andre has gone from someone who an opposing coach specifically targeted to take advantage of to a key cog of West Virginia’s upset of No. 7 Kansas on Tuesday.

“He’s been terrific,” WVU coach Darian DeVries said Friday. “In one of our first live scrimmages in June, I think he had one assist and 17 turnovers…He’s been putting a lot of time into his game and he’s impacting the game in a very big way and in a lot of different areas.”

Andre, who transferred in from Fresno State this offseason, began the year as the backup to Amani Hansberry. In the third game of the season, Pitt coach Jeff Capel specifically called out Andre after the Panthers’ blowout victory over the Mountaineers.

“Eduardo Andre, we wanted to get him into playing a lot of minutes,” Capel said after limiting Hansberry’s minutes with foul trouble. “We didn’t think he could play extended minutes like that and play at that level.”

Certainly a low point of the year for the big man, Andre has gotten better and better ever since that game against Pitt.

Andre was always impactful on the defensive end. He’s averaging nearly 2.5 blocks per game this season and already has four games with at least four blocks so far. 

“Defensively, his timing blocking shots has really made an impact for us,” DeVries said. “His physicality has really improved.”

Hansberry has missed the last two games with an ankle injury, leading to more playing time for Andre. Unlike when that happened at Pitt, however, the England native has flourished this time. Andre scored a season-high 14 points after Hansberry got hurt against Mercyhurst and then topped that with 15 points in WVU’s upset win over the Jayhawks earlier this week.

“I love where he’s at and he’s gaining confidence too, you can see it on the floor,” DeVries said. “He’s playing with a little bit of swagger to him right now and that’s fun to see.”

DeVries knew he would be getting good defense when he recruited Andre out of the portal, he blocked 86 shots last season, but his exact role with the Mountaineers wasn’t certain at the time. Whether it’s starting or coming off the bench, what Andre can contribute to the team has become much clearer now.

“At the time, we needed size on this roster and he was someone out there that had produced and he was someone we certainly felt could come in and play a role,” DeVries said. “We didn’t know what that would be for sure, but he’s certainly taken advantage of the opportunity he’s gotten.”

Andre is in line to start again should Hansberry miss the team’s game against Oklahoma State on Saturday (noon, CBS Sports). But even when Hansberry is fully healthy again, Andre could find himself in a much bigger role than what he had previously.

For a related story, WVU basketball beat Kansas despite injuries, travel.