Miles McBride Hits Game-Winner to Lead No. 11 WVU Past No. 10 Texas Tech
No. 11 West Virginia defeated No. 10 Texas Tech 88-87 on Monday night to pick up their first signature win of the season.
Coming into this game, it was expected that both teams would be a little sloppy and look fatigued coming off of long layoffs in between games. West Virginia played its first game in two weeks on Saturday but did not look as if they were in great condition despite beating Kansas State by 22.
However, it was quite the opposite. Both teams looked energized and came out ready to battle. West Virginia's offense was firing on all cylinders early led by redshirt freshman Jalen Bridges who knocked down a pair of threes early and finished at the rim off of offensive rebounds.
West Virginia went up ten, 28-18, at the midway point of the first half thanks to Sean McNeil connecting on his first three of the night. Just when it seemed as if the Mountaineers were starting to gain some separation, Texas Tech stormed back with a 13-3 run to close the half. Mac McClung blew by his defender and laid one in at the buzzer to tie the game up 39-39 at the half.
The Red Raiders pretty much owned the first ten minutes of the second half and West Virginia had no answer offensively thanks to Miles McBride being in foul trouble. McBride tried to pick up a charge on the defensive end of the floor but was outside of the arc and thus got called for a blocking foul. As soon as McBride exited the game, West Virginia's offense went kaput. Spacing was not as good, there were errant passes and bad shot selections, all of which led to a 17-4 Texas Tech run.
McBride re-entered the game and immediately made an impact helping West Virginia stay in it going on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 75-71. McBride knocked down a mid-range jumper and three free throws, while Kedrian Johnson drained a wide-open three.
Both teams began to trade three-pointers back and forth as McBride tied the game up at 84-84 with 1:38 left but Mac McClung hit another three to get the lead right back.
With 16 seconds left in the game, Huggins went right back to Miles McBride who hit the game-winner with five seconds left. Texas Tech's Mac McClung drove the ball the length of the floor and got the shot up but it did not fall for the Red Raiders.
West Virginia will be back in action this Saturday as they host Florida in the Big 12-SEC Challenge at 2 p.m. EST.
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