MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Miles McBride and Brandon Knapper were the only two players to score for West Virginia during the second half of Saturday’s win over Texas Tech. Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe have been the only consistent threats for the Mountaineers out of the post this season.
Otherwise, there hasn’t been much of an offensive spark, especially in the backcourt, outside of McBride’s contributions. On Tuesday night against TCU, that finally changed.
With Tshiebwe on the bench for most of the first half, Sean McNeil finally broke out of his funk, pouring in eight points. Chase Harler added seven, Knapper had five and McBride continued to prove valuable as someone who could create his own shot off the bench, with four, pushing WVU to a 14-point halftime lead.
Jermaine Haley, who had just two points in the first half, finished the night with 11.
By the end of the Mountaineers’ 81-49 win, the WVU backcourt accounted for 48 points. It finally lived up to the perimeter offensive potential we thought it would have before the season began.
The second half returned to the norm with a dominant performance by Tshiebwe and Culver. With Gabe Osabuohien feeding the post, the Horned Frogs had no answer, allowing the big duo to combine for 19 points in the second half and shoot 13 free throws for the game.
West Virginia’s 81 points is also the most the Mountaineers have scored in a game since they scored 83 against Nichols State on Dec. 14. WVU had 20 assists on 30 made shots, so it passed the ball well and had its best ball movement of the season, a bright spot after the second-half woes against the Red Raiders just three days prior.
However, Emmitt Matthews remains ice cold – he played just six minutes in the first half and was held scoreless through the first 20 minutes of the game. Matthews started the second half but after just three minutes, went back to the bench where he stayed until the 6:30 mark with the game already well out of hand, but still couldn’t find the bottom of the net.
Taz Sherman, who did knock down a 3 late in the second half, also has yet to figure out how to score at this level after being a juggernaut in juco a year ago. With the Coliseum crowd of 11,445 filing out of the arena after the game, Sherman was the only player on the court, putting up extra shots.
If West Virginia hopes to continue its resurgence this season, the guards need to continue making shots and create offense. If they can, the Mountaineers can handle an off night from either Culver or Tshiebwe.
