2023–24 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team

2023–24 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball
2023–24 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	9–23 (4–14 Big 12)
Head coach	Josh Eilert (interim);
Assistant coaches	DerMarr Johnson; Da'Sean Butler; Alex Ruoff; Jordan McCabe;
Home arena	WVU Coliseum
	Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

2023–24 Big 12 men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3т Houston	15	–	3	.833	32	–	5	.865
No. 8 Iowa State †	13	–	5	.722	29	–	8	.784
No. 16 Baylor	11	–	7	.611	24	–	11	.686
Texas Tech	11	–	7	.611	23	–	11	.676
BYU	10	–	8	.556	23	–	11	.676
No. 19 Kansas	10	–	8	.556	23	–	11	.676
Texas	9	–	9	.500	21	–	13	.618
TCU	9	–	9	.500	21	–	13	.618
Oklahoma	8	–	10	.444	20	–	12	.625
Kansas State	8	–	10	.444	19	–	15	.559
Cincinnati	7	–	11	.389	22	–	15	.595
UCF	7	–	11	.389	17	–	16	.515
Oklahoma State	4	–	14	.222	12	–	20	.375
West Virginia	4	–	14	.222	9	–	23	.281

† 2024 Big 12 tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2023–24 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team represented West Virginia University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Mountaineers were coached by interim head coach Josh Eilert, and played their home games at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia as members of the Big 12 Conference. Following the dismissal of longtime head coach Bob Huggins in the offseason, the Mountaineers finished the season with a 9–23 record (4–14 in Big 12 play), their worst record since the 2001–02 season.

Previous season

The Mountaineers finished the 2022–23 season 19–15, 7–11 in Big 12 Play to finish in eighth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament to Kansas. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 9 seed in the South region, where they were defeated by Maryland in the First Round.

Offseason

Coaching change

On June 16, 2023, head coach Bob Huggins was arrested in Pittsburgh and charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol.^[1] Police officers reported that they found him in an SUV that was blocking traffic, with the driver's door ajar and with a "flat and shredded tire". Bags of empty beer containers were found in the vehicle. A breath test determined his blood alcohol content to be 0.21%, more than two times the legal limit of 0.08%. Officers asked Huggins what city he was in, and did not get a clear response, with Huggins making mention of Columbus, Ohio a few times.^[2] The next day, Huggins released a statement announcing his resignation from West Virginia. In the statement, he also announced his retirement.^[3]

On June 24, 2023, assistant coach Josh Eilert was promoted to interim head coach after Huggins resigned.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Departures


Name	Pos.	Number	Height	Weight	Previous School	Hometown	Reason for Leaving
Kedrian Johnson	0	G	6'3"	185	GS Senior	Dallas, TX	Graduated
Emmitt Matthews Jr.	1	F	6'7"	215	GS Senior	Tacoma, WA	Graduated
Tre Mitchell	3	C	6'9"	225	Senior	Pittsburgh, PA	Graduate transferred to Kentucky
Jamel King	4	F	6'7"	190	Sophomore	Uniontown, AL	Transferred to Kennesaw State
Joe Toussaint	5	G	6'0"	190	Senior	Bronx, NY	Graduate transferred to Texas Tech
Erik Stevenson	10	G	6'4"	205	GS Senior	Lacey, WA	Graduated
Mohamed Wague	11	F	6'10"	225	Sophomore	Bronx, NY	Transferred to Alabama
Josiah Davis	12	G	6'3"	190	Freshman	Kitchener, ON	Transferred to Tennessee Tech
Jimmy Bell Jr.	15	F	6'10"	295	Senior	Saginaw, MI	Graduate transferred to Mississippi State
James Oknokwo	32	F	6'8"	230	Sophomore	Maidenhead, England	Transferred to North Carolina

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Noah Farrakhan	1	G	6'2"	162	Junior	Hillside, NJ	Eastern Michigan
Kerr Kriisa	3	G	6'3"	190	Senior	Tartu, Estonia	Arizona
Jeremiah Bembry	5	F	6'6"	185	RS Freshman	Brooklyn, NY	Florida State
Jesse Edwards	7	C	6'11"	230	GS Senior	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Syracuse
Quinn Slazinski	11	F	6'9"	215	GS Senior	Houston, TX	Iona
Akok Akok	13	F	6'9"	205	GS Senior	Manchester, NH	Georgetown
RaeQuan Battle	21	G	6'5"	190	Senior	Tulalip, WA	Montana State

Recruiting classes

2023 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Ofri Naveh PF	Israel	N/A	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Jul 28, 2023
Ofri Naveh PF	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2023 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

2023–24 West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Noah Farrakhan	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Jr	Eastern Michigan	Hillside, NJ
G	2	Kobe Johnson	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Canton HS	Canton, OH
G	3	Kerr Kriisa	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Arizona	Tartu, Estonia
F	5	Jeremiah Bembry	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	RS Fr	Florida State	Brooklyn, NY
C	7	Jesse Edwards	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	GS	Syracuse	Amsterdam, Netherlands
F	9	Ofri Naveh	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Fr		Neot Golan, Israel
F	11	Quinn Slazinski	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	GS	Iona	Houston, TX
F	13	Akok Akok	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	GS	Georgetown	Manchester, NH
G	14	Seth Wilson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	Jr	Lorain HS	Lorain, OH
G	21	RaeQuan Battle	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Montana State	Tulalip, WA
F	22	Josiah Harris	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Richmond Heights HS	Canton, OH
F	24	Patrick Suemnick	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Jr	Triton College	Green Bay, WI

Head coach

Josh Eilert (interim) (Kansas State)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 27, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		George Mason Charity Exhibition	W 85–78	–	21 – Tied	9 – Harris	3 – Tied	WVU Coliseum (9,437) Morgantown, WV
Non-conference regular season
November 6, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Missouri State	W 67–59	1–0	18 – Slazinski	13 – Edwards	4 – Johnson	WVU Coliseum (9,691) Morgantown, WV
November 10, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Monmouth	L 65–73	1–1	16 – Edwards	13 – Edwards	4 – Slazinski	WVU Coliseum (10,473) Morgantown, WV
November 14, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Jacksonville State	W 70–57	2–1	19 – Tied	7 – Slazinski	5 – Johnson	WVU Coliseum (9,218) Morgantown, WV
November 20, 2023* 6:00 p.m., FS1		vs. SMU Fort Myers Tip-Off semifinals	L 58–70	2–2	18 – Edwards	9 – Edwards	4 – Wilson	Suncoast Credit Union Arena (3,500) Fort Myers, FL
November 22, 2023* 6:00 p.m., FS1		vs. No. 24 Virginia Fort Myers Tip-Off consolation	L 54–56	2–3	17 – Tied	9 – Edwards	6 – Johnson	Suncoast Credit Union Arena (3,500) Fort Myers, FL
November 26, 2023* 5:00 p.m., ESPN+		Bellarmine	W 62–58	3–3	17 – Edwards	14 – Edwards	3 – Slazinski	WVU Coliseum (9,181) Morgantown, WV
December 1, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2		St. John's Big East–Big 12 Battle	L 73–79	3–4	19 – Slazinski	8 – Harris	3 – Naveh	WVU Coliseum (10,781) Morgantown, WV
December 6, 2023* 9:00 p.m., ESPN2		Pittsburgh Backyard Brawl	L 63–80	3–5	22 – Slazinski	9 – Edwards	4 – Johnson	WVU Coliseum (12,301) Morgantown, WV
December 9, 2023* 4:00 p.m., ESPN+		Drexel	W 66–60	4–5	16 – Edwards	6 – Slazinski	6 – Johnson	WVU Coliseum (9,414) Morgantown, WV
December 16, 2023* 6:30 p.m., ESPNU		vs. UMass Basketball Hall of Fame Classic	L 79–87	4–6	20 – Tied	6 – Harris	7 – Kriisa	MassMutual Center (4,264) Springfield, MA
December 20, 2023* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Radford	L 65–66	4–7	29 – Battle	7 – Tied	6 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (9,019) Morgantown, WV
December 23, 2023* 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		Toledo	W 91–81	5–7	29 – Battle	12 – Akok	10 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (10,693) Morgantown, WV
December 30, 2023* 7:00 p.m., FOX		vs. Ohio State Legends of Basketball Showcase	L 75–78 ^OT	5–8	24 – Battle	10 – Battle	4 – Kriisa	Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (12,211) Cleveland, OH
Big 12 regular season
January 6, 2024 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at No. 3 Houston	L 55–89	5–9 (0–1)	12 – Suemnick	6 – Harris	3 – Harris	Fertitta Center (7,387) Houston, TX
January 9, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Kansas State	L 67–81	5–10 (0–2)	21 – Battle	4 – Suemnick	5 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (10,063) Morgantown, WV
January 13, 2024 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		No. 25 Texas	W 76–73	6–10 (1–2)	16 – Suemnick	7 – Farrakhan	3 – Johnson	WVU Coliseum (11,565) Morgantown, WV
January 17, 2024 8:00 p.m., ESPN+		at No. 15 Oklahoma	L 63–77	6–11 (1–3)	14 – Farrakhan	7 – Suemnick	4 – Kriisa	Lloyd Noble Center (6,835) Norman, OK
January 20, 2024 4:00 p.m., ESPN+		No. 3 Kansas	W 91–85	7–11 (2–3)	23 – Battle	9 – Battle	6 – Farrakhan	WVU Coliseum (11,565) Morgantown, WV
January 23, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at UCF	L 59–72	7–12 (2–4)	15 – Harris	8 – Harris	5 – Kriisa	Addition Financial Arena (8,882) Orlando, FL
January 27, 2024 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Oklahoma State	L 66–70	7–13 (2–5)	21 – Kriisa	7 – Farrakhan	5 – Johnson	Gallagher-Iba Arena (6,889) Stillwater, OK
January 31, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Cincinnati rivalry	W 69–65	8–13 (3–5)	25 – Edwards	10 – Edwards	7 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (10,349) Morgantown, WV
February 3, 2024 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		No. 22 BYU	L 73–86	8–14 (3–6)	23 – Kriisa	7 – Edwards	4 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (11,753) Morgantown, WV
February 10, 2024 3:00 p.m., LHN		at Texas	L 58–94	8–15 (3–7)	17 – Edwards	9 – Edwards	4 – Kriisa	Moody Center (10,073) Austin, TX
February 12, 2024 8:00 p.m., ESPN+		at TCU	L 65–81	8–16 (3–8)	21 – Battle	5 – Tied	5 – Slazinski	Schollmaier Arena (5,694) Fort Worth, TX
February 17, 2024 6:00 p.m., ESPN2		No. 12 Baylor	L 81–94	8–17 (3–9)	25 – Battle	9 – Edwards	6 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (12,558) Morgantown, WV
February 20, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPNU		UCF	W 77–67	9–17 (4–9)	24 – Battle	10 – Edwards	7 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (9,569) Morgantown, WV
February 24, 2024 2:00 p.m., ESPN2		at No. 6 Iowa State	L 64–71	9–18 (4–10)	12 – Tied	8 – Edwards	3 – Tied	Hilton Coliseum (14,267) Ames, IA
February 26, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPN2		at Kansas State	L 90–94 ^OT	9–19 (4–11)	28 – Battle	7 – Edwards	6 – Kriisa	Bramlage Coliseum (8,813) Manhattan, KS
March 2, 2024 6:00 p.m., ESPN2		Texas Tech	L 70–81	9–20 (4–12)	18 – Edwards	8 – Edwards	4 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (11,313) Morgantown, WV
March 6, 2024 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		TCU	L 81–93	9–21 (4–13)	36 – Edwards	13 – Edwards	9 – Kriisa	WVU Coliseum (9,674) Morgantown, WV
March 9, 2024 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Cincinnati rivalry	L 56–92	9–22 (4–14)	12 – Farrakhan	4 – Battle	4 – Slazinski	Fifth Third Arena (11,914) Cincinnati, OH
Big 12 tournament
March 12, 2024 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	(14)	vs. (11) Cincinnati First Round/rivalry	L 85–90	9–23	14 – Battle	7 – Slazinski	4 – Slazinski	T-Mobile Center (9,404) Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Source^[7]

References

^ Jenkins, Jeff (2023-06-17). "Huggins arrested in Pittsburgh on DUI charge; University reviewing incident". WV MetroNews. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
^ Borzello, Jeff; Thamel, Pete (17 June 2023). "West Virginia's Huggins arrested on DUI charge". ESPN.com.
^ Thamel, Pete (18 June 2023). "Huggins resigns as WVU coach in wake of arrest". ESPN.com.
^ Henderson, Cydney. "West Virginia names Josh Eilert interim men's basketball coach after Bob Huggins resigns". USA Today. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ "REPORT: Josh Eilert to be Named Interim Head Coach". Sports Illustrated. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ Norlander, Matt. "West Virginia names assistant Josh Eilert interim head coach for 2023-24 after Bob Huggins' resignation". CBS Sports. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ "2023–24 Men's Basketball Schedule". wvusports.com. Retrieved August 28, 2023.

[1] Jenkins, Jeff (2023-06-17). "Huggins arrested in Pittsburgh on DUI charge; University reviewing incident". WV MetroNews. Retrieved 2023-06-17.

[2] Borzello, Jeff; Thamel, Pete (17 June 2023). "West Virginia's Huggins arrested on DUI charge". ESPN.com.

[ESPNresign-3] Thamel, Pete (18 June 2023). "Huggins resigns as WVU coach in wake of arrest". ESPN.com.

[4] Henderson, Cydney. "West Virginia names Josh Eilert interim men's basketball coach after Bob Huggins resigns". USA Today. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[5] "REPORT: Josh Eilert to be Named Interim Head Coach". Sports Illustrated. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[6] Norlander, Matt. "West Virginia names assistant Josh Eilert interim head coach for 2023-24 after Bob Huggins' resignation". CBS Sports. Retrieved 25 June 2023.

[7] "2023–24 Men's Basketball Schedule". wvusports.com. Retrieved August 28, 2023.

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v t e West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball
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Rivalries	Cincinnati Marshall Pittsburgh
Culture & lore	The Mountaineer
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
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NCAA Final Four appearances in italics