MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Jordan McCabe said he sort of had an idea during a team shoot-around early Saturday that he might get the start at point guard.
“I knew it was going to be up in the air, because Deuce (McBride) is sort of nursing some things on his end,” McCabe said after No. 10 West Virginia defeated Kansas State, 65-43, at the Coliseum. “He seems to be on track. In fact, he probably could have started today. I think going into this four-game stretch this week, they wanted to be more safe than sorry.”
McBride — the Mountaineers leading scorer — was “a little banged up,” according to WVU head coach Bob Huggins on Friday.
Officially, McBride is nursing a lower body injury, which was the word that came during the TV broadcast.
In his place, McCabe played 21 minutes and finished with seven points and a couple of assists.
“I thought he got better and better as the game went on,” Huggins said of McCabe. “He didn’t start out real well, but as the game went on, he really started to feel a lot more comfortable. He needs to make some of those shots that he had, but he’s really capable. That’s why you want him out there.”
McBride did come off the bench and played 23 minutes and finished with five points on 2 of 6 shooting.
No looking ahead
WVU (17-6, 10-4 Big 12) never trailed in the victory, but was held to its second-fewest points of the season and shot just 41.5% (22 of 53) from the floor.
WVU guard Sean McNeil was asked if any of that had to do with the Mountaineers looking ahead to their top-10 showdown against No. 2 Baylor on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it played a big factor. Maybe, maybe not, I’m not really sure,” McNeil said. “I don’t think we overlooked Kansas State. I think we just came out flat with not much intensity and energy. That kind of showed in the first half. The second half, we picked it up.”
In terms of the Baylor game, Huggins said the team will watch some film on Sunday and have a quick walk through, before having a harder practice on Monday.
News and notes
** The victory was the 898th career win for Huggins, who is fourth in all-time wins among active coaches behind only Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Roy Williams.
** West Virginia got some help in the Big 12 standings with both Texas and Oklahoma losing earlier Saturday.
WVU can now secure the No. 2 seed for the Big 12 Tournament by winning two of its last three games.
** Kansas State played without starting point guard Nijel Pack, who was out with an eye infection. The freshman was on the Wildcats’ bench during the game wearing sunglasses.
“We don’t have ball handlers and passers,”K-State head coach Bruce Weber said. “I think he is one of the leaders in the league. It is an unbelievable league with great guards. Then, he is the one that can make some shots and that is probably the biggest difference.”
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