MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia won a foot race Monday that maybe it shouldn’t have been in the first place.
WVU’s defense — the identity of the program since Bob Huggins took over in 2007 — forced just two turnovers.
Its other identity: Offensive rebounds. WVU grabbed just five of those in its entertaining 88-87 victory against No. 10 Texas Tech inside the WVU Coliseum.
Texas Tech’s Mac McClung could not be guarded. He scored 30. Texas Tech had a 25-0 edge in points off turnovers.
Texas Tech also held a 44-28 advantage with points in the paint.
These are not the stats No. 11 WVU (11-4, 4-3 Big 12) wants to see in any sort of game it’s known to be competitive in.
Because of this win, the Mountaineers remain in some sort of contention for a Big 12 regular season title, while Texas Tech (11-5, 4-4) is basically out of the running before it even hit the halfway point of the conference schedule.
Those are the instant takeaways from a truly amazing game.
Here’s the biggest one: From this point on, Deuce McBride has got to find a way to stay on the floor.
It may be the single-most crucial key to the rest of the Mountaineers’ season.
“It’s tough to put into words,” WVU guard Sean McNeil said when asked what it means to have McBride on the floor. “He just makes plays for us. It’s huge to have him on the floor. He does so much more than just score. He handles the ball and makes the right reads. He’s a heck of a player. Not only is he good now, he’s going to continue to get better.”
Forget for a moment that McBride scored the winning basket with six seconds remaining by first driving past Kyler Edwards and then getting a shot over Terrence Shannon Jr. — two pretty good defenders, by the way — at the rim.
“I knew it was going in,” McBride said minutes later.
This isn’t even about the fact McBride scored 19 points in just 15 minutes in the second half on just seven shots, which is impressive in itself.
Those are all great things the sophomore did while on the floor.
Here’s what happened when McBride was on the bench: Texas Tech took a 45-45 game and turned it into a 64-52 lead before McBride got back into the game with 11:56 remaining.
He became the hero upon his return, making two 3-pointers, three more points on foul shots after getting fouled behind the line and obviously his late game-winner.
He was whistled for two offensive fouls late in the first half. His third foul early in the second half came while trying to draw an offensive foul, but it got called a block.
“I made a bonehead mistake going off one foot (on an offensive foul), even though I did that on the last play of the game,” McBride said. “They’re one of the best charge-taking teams in the Big 12 and really in the whole country. I can’t afford for us to get in a hole with me being out of the game.”
These are not traditional fouls. These are fouls that generally come from guys who play hard and no one can deny McBride plays with a ton of passion.
But, these are plays McBride has to stay away from.
He’s a developing star. What kind of star, I do not know. I don’t know if he’s a future NBA guy.
But at the college level, he emerged as one of the top players in the Big 12 on Monday, probably already was before the game even began.
Stars don’t put the game at risk by trying to draw offensive fouls.
Get called for a charge? OK, maybe once, but not two times in a matter of two minutes.
It’s the little things that can mean great things in the bigger picture.
McBride came back to be the hero. He finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
If he was on the floor longer, who knows, McBride may have finished with a triple-double.
If Deuce is on the loose, West Virginia has a chance to stay in the Big 12 hunt.
If he’s on the bench, I’m afraid teams will take advantage big time.
TWEET @bigjax3211
