West Virginia Handles Oklahoma State
Morgantown, WV – The No. 17 West Virginia Mountaineers (19-7, 7-6) got back to playing defense with tenacity in the second half as they went on to win comfortably 65-47 over the Oklahoma State Cowboys (13-13, 3-10). Miles “Deuce” McBride and Sean McNeil both led the Mountaineers with 11 points and Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe combined for 25 rebounds.
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins hinted on Monday there would be some changes to the starting lineup and Deuce McBride and Taz Sherman got the starting nod over Jordan McCabe and Derek Culver.
The change was effective early as the Mountaineers started 3-5 from the field, including a one-handed monster jam from Emmitt Matthews Jr in traffic to give the Mountaineers the early 8-6 advantage.
However, Oklahoma State was switching defenses from a man-to-man to a zone slowed the West Virginia offense as the Mountaineers only recorded one field goal in nearly nine minutes and as a result, the Cowboys build a 10-point lead at the 7:52 mark of the first half.
As the Mountaineers searched for answers, they found one in Taz Sherman, scoring seven points in less than two minutes but were unable to chip away at the lead until a little bit of luck to end the half, got West Virginia back within two possessions. With less than one second remaining, Jermaine Haley hit a fadeaway three-pointer that touched every part of the rim and rolled in to get West Virginia within five before the break.
West Virginia carried that momentum into the second half, stepped up their defense and went on a 14-2 run and was up seven nearing the midway point of the second half.
The Mountaineers held Oklahoma State to 14 second half points on 5-30 shooting from the field as West Virginia went on to roll the Cowboys 65-47.
West Virginia is back in action on Saturday as they travel to Ft. Worth to take on the TCU Horned Frogs at 2:00 pm on ESPNU this Saturday.
