MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jalen Bridges was a household name among those that follow high school basketball in West Virginia. He was a starter on two state championship squads at Fairmont Senior. With an athletic frame and ever-increasing ability to shoot from distance, Bridges developed into a Top 100 recruit in the Class of 2019. After initially planning to go to prep school a year ago, Bridges instead accepted a scholarship offer at WVU and redshirted in his first season. Now, he is an every-game starter on one of the best teams in college basketball.
“The speed of the game has slowed down a little bit to me now,” Bridges said. “I am taking what comes to me. I am not really trying to force anything. I am out there being as active as possible and just trying to do everything I can to help my team win.”
Bridges immediately earned praise from head coach Bob Huggins in his redshirt year. But there is a huge jump from performing well in the practice facility to on the Coliseum floor in games.
“A year ago, he was just on the second team,” Huggins said. “There wasn’t the pressure because he wasn’t going to play in games because he was redshirted. Now he is not just going to get in, he is a very integral part of what we do.”
Bridges played in nine games in November and December, but struggled to find consistent minutes. When Isaiah Cottrell was lost for the season with an Achilles injury and Oscar Tshiebwe left the program, Bridges immediately jumped into the starting lineup. Since entering the starting five, Bridges is averaging 24 minutes and 8.5 points per game. After going 1-for-11 from three-point range to start the year, he has made 50 percent from beyond the arc since.
“When we went through our roster transformation, everyone kind of counted us out,” Bridges said. “We took that as, let’s show everybody that we can be better than what people are saying we are going to be. We are still that West Virginia team that everyone was talking about and had Final Four potential.”
At 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, Bridges is adjusting to the physical rigors of Big 12 basketball.
“It is way, way harder than anything I could have ever imagined,” Bridges said. “The physicality is crazy. If you are not ready for it, you are definitely going to be taken back.”
Physical attributes aside, Huggins says the former Polar Bear also possesses an important mental trait, the ability to be coachable.
“He really tries to excel at what he is asked to do. That doesn’t happen a whole lot in this climate we are in in college basketball,” Huggins said.