Gold & Blue Lunch: Turning a Paige on WVU’s sixth man

FORT WORTH, Texas — After Buddy Hield’s 46, Jaysean Paige faces statistically imperceptible odds of repeating as Big 12 Player of the Week. But neither is Paige repeating his mistakes of the past. Or at least he’s not compounding them.

The suddenly surging sixth man entered Monday night’s game at the 17:21 mark and exited at 16:06, after his second foul. Paige popped in later, picked up foul No. 3 and returned to his seat, to be seen no more during a two-point first half that encapsulated everything puzzling and frustrating about how the guard used to short himself.

Nothing short about Paige’s second half, though: 18 points in 11 maximum-impact minutes, 6-of-8 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, and just one turnover. He did all that while fouling only once, a massive factor toward West Virginia’s 95-87 comeback win over TCU.

Beyond the guy we’ve seen emerge in recent games, this represented a new advancement in Paige’s balance and maturation. A horrible start no longer capable of making him vanish.

“I think I’ve come a long way,” he said. “Before I might’ve hung my head in the second half and been a little down, but the way the game was going I felt like I had to come in and give my team a boost.”

Another sign of controlled aggression? Paige ripping a late-game defensive rebound from Chris Washburn, and walking away when the TCU big man delivered an elbow tap to Paige’s forehead.

“It’s an emotional moment and scuffles like that happen,” said Paige. “You try not to feed into that kind of stuff.”

The Gold & Blue Lunch Report feeds you more reaction from West Virginia stretching to 13-1.