WVU Basketball’s Advanced Numbers Through First Week

WVU Basketball had an eventful first week under interim HC Josh Eilert. The Mountaineers took care of business against a respectable Missouri State team and couldn’t pull through against Monmouth at home.

West Virginia is currently playing with eight scholarship players as they wait for Kerr Kriisa (suspension), RaeQuan Battle (waiver appeal) and Akok Akok (health) to return to the floor. Let’s take a look where advanced analytics have the Mountaineers after the first two games.

KenPom

Overall: 90

Adjusted Offense: 101

Adjusted Defense: 88

Other notes: effective field goal (325 in country), offensive turnover % (37 in country), Jesse Edwards not receiving enough usage as he should be

EvanMiya

Overall: 95

Offense: 66

Defense: 146

Other notes: tempo rank (270 in country), best two-man lineup Kobe Johnson + Josiah Harris

BartTorvik

Overall: 79

Adjusted Offense: 97

Adjusted Defense: 76

Other notes: two-point field goal % (333 in country), free throw rate (47 in country)

The common theme between all three databases is that West Virginia’s offense has struggled to shoot the ball outside of Edwards. KenPom has Edwards tiered as a “role player” based on how often West Virginia uses him. If WVU can run the offense through Edwards as much as Quinn Slazinski, the offense’s numbers should improve through field goal percentage and efficiency.

Edwards is averaging 14.5 points and 13.0 rebounds on just nine shots per game.

West Virginia hosts Jacksonville State on Tuesday to complete their three-game home stand. The Mountaineers look to avoid another bad loss on their resume before heading to Florida for the Fort Myers Invitational.