Breaking down West Virginia basketball transfer Jake Auer

Earlier this week, West Virginia men’s basketball added a veteran walk-on to their roster in fifth-year guard Jake Auer. Here, we take a look at what Auer has done at the collegiate level so far, and some analysis on what he’ll bring to the team.

EXPERIENCE

Auer joins the Mountaineers for his final year of eligibility after a four-year stint with the Rockhurst Hawks at the NCAA Division 2 level. He appeared in 95 games and registered 49 starts over his tenure at Rockhurst -- he started in 28 games his sophomore season and averaged 12.4 points per game before taking more of a role off the bench in his junior and senior seasons. 

He would still average 9.6 points his senior season and had quite the hot hand as a scorer, shooting 42 percent from the field, 40.3 percent from behind-the-arc, and 94.1 percent from the free throw line. Before Rockhurst, Auer played his high school ball at Valley High School in Iowa, and was first-team all-conference and second-team all-state his senior season, and also set a program record for most three-point field goals made in a season.

FORMER RIVALS BECOME TEAMMATES

At Valley High School, Auer played numerous games against his new teammate Tucker DeVries. DeVries played for local rival Waukee, who held the edge during the pair’s high school days -- winning six of the previous seven games headed into their final matchup during Auer’s senior season. 

That final matchup, in the Iowa substate tournament, saw DeVries get one more win over Auer as Waukee won 59-55 -- Auer edged DeVries in scoring, though, tallying 25 points to Tucker’s 24 points. In another regular season matchup between the programs earlier that year, Auer scored over 30 points. Now, the two former rivals on the court will reconnect with a chance to put the best of both their skills to use on the same squad, and it's likely that both Tucker and coach Darian DeVries have plenty of knowledge of the intricacies of their newest weapon’s game.

FILM ANALYSIS

As his stats suggest, Auer is quite the scorer from deep range. On film, Auer shows an exceptional ability to score three-point buckets from all over the court, with a penchant for getting warmed up quickly.

He also proves to be talented at creating scoring opportunities off the dribble. While Auer thrives when provided with open set shots, he is still able to create a shot when not much is being given to him by the defender. He is skilled at protecting the ball while doing so, as well, putting the ball on the floor plenty with his gambits rarely resulting in turnovers.

Potential weaknesses include an undersized frame at 6 feet and 170-pounds, which could prove to be a bit small to handle some of the big-bodied guards he may have to face in the Big 12. Another potential downside is that for the most part, he wasn’t even a consistent starter during his final two seasons at a lower level of competitive basketball. While that could indicate a humble attitude and knowledge that he works better in some systems as a role player, it could also be a sign he can’t handle the competitive nature that power conference basketball at the Division 1 level brings.