McBride Stars in 66-54 Win Over Texas Tech
West Virginia (12-2, 2-1) defeated Texas Tech (10-5, 1-2) 66-54 on Saturday. Miles "Deuce" McBride seemingly had his way on the offensive end of the floor. The freshman guard made a statement, scoring a career-high 22 points in his first Big 12 home-opener as a Mountaineer.
McBride did his damage on 8-11 shooting from the floor while going 5-6 from the free-throw line, also contributing three rebounds and a steal. All of the deflected passes won't show up in the box score, but they played a key role in slowing down the Red Raiders' offense.
Deuce has been a big factor off of the bench throughout the season for the Mountaineers, providing instant-offense when he enters the contest. "I like coming off the bench. It's easy to see what they're doing well, and what they're not doing well. It allows me to see what players on the other team can do at both ends of the floor."
Gabe Osabuohien spoke highly of McBride and the rest of the bench. "It just shows how deep our team is. We have Deuce and Brandon Knapper coming off the bench, and those guys can start anywhere. It just shows how talented we are."
Coach Huggins was asked if he knew the true scoring ability of McBride when he was recruiting him. "No, but Archbishop Moeller is very disciplined and well-coached. They spread the ball around a lot so they generally don't have anybody score a bunch of points."
McBride is very humble and credits fellow freshman Oscar Tshiebwe on his early success. "We're roommates, and sometimes if I'm sleeping, he'll come in and wake me up and tell me it's time to go work. I do the same to him."
One area of McBride's game that has improved through the first half of the season is his ability to create shots for himself. He doesn't do much of anything flashy, but he's ultimately able to put the ball in the basket. McBride has been getting to his spots, rising up over defenders and knocking down jumpers. The kid makes it look easy too.
He also credits Tshiebwe for his increasing ability to score over taller defenders. "That comes from him and always playing against older guys. When I got someone like Oscar in front of me, I really have to create to score."
The Mountaineers half-court defense did an excellent job defending Texas Tech. They were able to switch and rotate well on drives, close out on shooters, and keep the Red Raiders off of the glass holding them to 28.4% (21-74).
McBride talked about how the Mountaineers have been focusing a lot on the defensive end. He and fellow teammates are really committing themselves to the game this season by studying opponent film. "We came in with an emphasis on stopping Ramsey, and we knew he liked to step into a lot of his shots, so we tried to make him dribble the ball."
West Virginia will return to the hardwood on Tuesday when they play host to TCU (12-3, 3-0)
