MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In a showdown of the two most highly touted freshmen in the Big 12, a third man entered the ring and stole the spotlight Saturday night.
Coming off the bench for the 15th time this season, freshman guard Miles McBride scored a career-high 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field to lead No. 17 West Virginia to a 66-54 win over No. 22 Texas Tech at WVU Coliseum.
Over the first 15 minutes of the second half, McBride was the only Mountaineer to make a field goal. He was 6 of 9 from the field in the second half.
“He’s not afraid. That’s the biggest thing,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “That’s the thing [his high school coach] talked about. His toughness. His lack of fear.”
Texas Tech (10-5, 1-2 Big 12) freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey came into the game with talk of not only being the top freshman in the Big 12, but perhaps in the country. Ramsey was averaging 17.7 points per game and 19 per game against conference opponents.
He finished with eight points on 3-for-14 shooting from the field. Iowa is the only other team to hold him below double figures this season. It was truly a team effort, with no fewer than five Mountaineers drawing the assignment of guarding Ramsey at some point.
“Coach Huggins always puts emphasis on leading scorers,” said Texas Tech coach Chris Beard. “This team did a great job on [Big 12 player of the year] Jarrett Culver last year. Give credit to West Virginia. They made it a tough game for [Ramsey], no doubt about that.”
McBride didn’t view the game as an opportunity to one-up Ramsey.
“I know he’s a great player,” McBride said. “He’s one of the best shooters in our league. We knew we had to stop him. Every game, I’m just out there trying to play.”
Beard called West Virginia (13-2, 2-1) the best defense the Red Raiders have faced this season, noting that it’s no cheap compliment after playing No. 4 Baylor earlier this week. The Bears may be ranked No. 1 in the upcoming AP poll after downing No. 3 Kansas earlier on Saturday.
Texas Tech was 28 percent from the field (21 of 74) and 21 percent from three-point range (6 of 28).
“I hate the coach that gets up here and talks about how we couldn’t make a shot,” Beard said. “The reason we couldn’t make a shot was the other team was well-coached, has good players, was dialed in and played great defense.”
Both teams committed turnovers by the bushel, but West Virginia was better at taking advantage of mistakes. WVU scored 17 points off of 16 Texas Tech turnovers, while the Red Raiders had only 14 points to show for 21 Mountaineer miscues.
Oscar Tshiebwe, the other heralded freshman in this matchup, had a quiet offensive performance with seven points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field. But he once again dominated on the glass, ripping down 17 rebounds.
It’s the fourth time this season that Tshiebwe has had a 17-rebound game, which explains why it felt so routine.
“That’s what we expect from him,” Huggins said. “That’s what he expects from himself.”
Next up
After waiting almost a month between home games, it will be a much shorter gap for WVU this week.
TCU (12-3, 3-0) is seeking its first-ever win at the Coliseum in a game that tips Tuesday at 9 p.m. The Horned Frogs are in a surprising early-season tie with Baylor atop the Big 12 standings.