Huggins: West Virginia’s defense can improve if Deuce McBride can stay on the floor

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The film is stopped and replayed and stopped again.

The eyes of Bob Huggins search for contact from his star sophomore guard Deuce McBride, or maybe for McBride simply being in a poor defensive position.

It’s usually not there.

WVU STATS

“He’s gotten some really rough calls,” Huggins says of McBride on Monday, as No. 17 West Virginia prepared to travel to Iowa State. “They’ve made some calls, even going back on it looking at the film, I don’t see the foul.”

Among the Mountaineers’ guards and wings, none of them have been whistled for as many fouls as McBride, who still leads WVU in both scoring and minutes played.

But, if timing is everything, then McBride has maybe had his fouls come at the worst moments.

He picked up his third foul and exited the Texas Tech game last Monday with 16:37 remaining. The game was tied at 45, and by the time he came back in at the 11:56 mark, the Red Raiders had taken a 64-52 lead.

Against Florida on Saturday, McBride’s third foul came with 18:47 left, with the Mountaineers holding a 44-37 advantage.

He came back in with 12:56 left and Florida led, 61-58.

“I think the biggest thing is he’s got to stay out of foul trouble,” Huggins said. “He sits over there, and everybody does, but you kind of lose your sway.”

The Mountaineers (11-5, 4-3 Big 12) can’t afford to lose much more of their sway, as they prepare for the Cyclones (2-9, 0-6) and then for six straight games against top 25-ranked teams after that.

Iowa State has dropped five straight, but also had four Big 12 games postponed in between due to COVID-19 protocols and not having enough scholarship players available.

At full strength, the Cyclones held close with the Mountaineers on Dec. 18 inside the WVU Coliseum, falling 70-65.

McBride hit the go-ahead free throws with 21 seconds left to secure the victory.

“They got hit with the COVID-19 thing like everybody else did, so they played with a shortage of players,” Huggins said. “I think they’re back to full strength now. We were struggling to win. They’re hard to guard. Steve (Prohm) does a great job with them. He runs great sets and they’ve got a lot of guys who can make shots.”

Iowa State point guard Rasir Bolton scored 25 points in 40 minutes in the first meeting, but the Cyclones also turned the ball over 21 times.

Huggins stressed a need Monday for better defense from his players, saying they didn’t seem to be too concerned when the player they were guarding scored.

“At some point in time, I think they ought to get tired of losing these games,” Huggins said. “A lot of guarding is wanting to. I’ve had guys that weren’t as fundamentally sound as a lot of other guys, but they worked their tails off, because they took a lot of pride in it.

“I just don’t see a lot of pride. I don’t see anybody getting mad when their man scores. I don’t see anybody upset. They just can’t wait to get it out of bounds and go the other way. That’s not a good thing.”

Both Florida and Texas Tech went on scoring runs when McBride was on the bench in foul trouble.

Could it have made a difference if McBride was still on the floor?

“Our guards, by and large, aren’t very big and he gives us a little more size,” Huggins said. “He gives us a little more athleticism. He makes plays defensively. He’s got great anticipation and makes a lot of plays defensively. He just doesn’t help us on the offensive end. He’s not afraid to dive on the floor.”

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