‘We wanted Deuce to take over the game’; McBride sparks late WVU rally

(Game video recap)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The morning after rallying back from a 12-point deficit with under just eight minutes to play to defeat Texas Tech 88-87, West Virginia jumped up to a No. 4 seed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN Bracketology. Half of WVU’s four Big 12 victories have come by erasing sizable second half deficits. The Mountaineers rallied from 19 points down at Oklahoma State three weeks ago.

The Red Raiders made five consecutive shots from the floor in the second half to build their lead to a game-best 12 points with 7:11 to go. West Virginia’s defense tightened down the stretch as Tech went 4-for-13 from the field the rest of the way.

“The biggest thing is we got stops when we needed to. We gave up a couple rebounds here and there. But Gabe (Osabuohien) got a stop late, contested a three. That was a big stop for us there,” said WVU guard Sean McNeil.

While Tech struggled to find the bottom of the basket in the final minutes, WVU made their last ten shots from the floor. And Deuce McBride nearly couldn’t miss. In the second half, the sophomore guard went 6-for-7 from the field and scored 19 points. He ended the contest with a team-high 24 points. McBride’s go-ahead basket with five seconds left was set up by Taz Sherman drawing a defender away from the basket.

“Taz made a great effort play. He was able to start low and took his guy. He was a step slow and I knew I could beat him around the corner. I give it to Taz for making that play, honestly. I just had to finish it off,” McBride said.

“At the end of the game, we wanted Deuce to take over the game. We wanted him to draw the defense and pitch it. Sean hit that big three for us when he did that and then Deuce did the rest on his own,” said WVU head coach Bob Huggins.

Amazingly, West Virginia prevailed despite Tech’s 25-0 advantage in points off turnovers. In 75 possessions, the Red Raiders turned the ball over twice. The last time a WVU opponent committed less than five turnovers in a game the Mountaineers won happened eleven years ago. Notre Dame turned the ball over just four times in their loss to WVU in the 2010 Big East Tournament.

“We’re still trying to get through a lot of little mistakes. Not forcing a team into turnovers is not our style. And with us giving them the ball, it is hard to win Big 12 games. It obviously shows we have a lot of fight in us and we are not going to back down from anybody,” McBride said.

Jalen Bridges (2) shoots a three pointer over Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Mac McClung (0) (Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports)

Six Mountaineers scored in double figures. Jalen Bridges was efficient once again in his expanded role as a starter. In just under 20 minutes, the redshirt freshman from Fairmont was 5-for-8 from the field. He scored 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Bridges has scored in double figures in three of his five games since entering the starting lineup.

“We have to get him to rebound it a little bit more, which he is very capable of doing as well,” Huggins said.

West Virginia has won Big 12 games while yielding 47, 65, 84 and 87 points. McBride knows the Mountaineers have proven capable of winning in a variety of ways.

“We all know we can score the ball. That is one of our plusses this year,” McBride said. “But we can’t give teams forty points in the paint. If we can add those old Huggs teams’ defensive mentality with our scoring, I think we are going to be hard to beat.”





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