Eilert Being Cautious About Jesse Edwards During Recovery

WVU C Jesse Edwards is still recovering from a fractured wrist that has sidelined him for the past six weeks. West Virginia interim HC Josh Eilert showed his concerns about Edwards’ ability to use his wrist during his radio show on Thursday night with Tony Caridi.

Edwards had his brace removed last week and has been dressed for emergency situations against Kansas and UCF. Eilert says Edwards is still practicing but is struggling to shoot the ball. The first-year head coach is concerned that teams will take notice of Edwards’ recovering wrist and just foul when the Syracuse transfer touches the ball.

“[Edwards] can’t shoot that thing from the free throw line at this point. I don’t think he could do it and even make it look halfway decent,” Eilert said. “So your opponent gets to a point where this is the strategy we’re going to take. We’re just going to foul Jesse intentionally every time he touches it down low and he has to go to the line over and over again, it could be very counterproductive.”

Edwards is averaging 14.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks through the first 10 games of the season. The 6-foot-11 big man fractured his right wrist on Dec. 16 vs. UMass. West Virginia is 3-6 without Edwards but have knocked off two ranked opponents in Kansas and Texas.

“He got uncomfortable at one point trying to guard Big Ali [Ragab] in the post and we backed off as soon as he felt that uncomfort. We got to be careful with it and make sure we’re not pushing it too fast,” Eilert said on Monday.

West Virginia (7-12, 2-4 Big12) will travel to Stillwater, Ok. to prepare for Saturday’s game vs. Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are still searching for their first conference win of the season. WVU and OSU will tip off at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

WV Sports Now will provide updates on Edwards when provided.