Deuce McBride ready to play on the biggest stage the NCAA tournament provides

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The challenges were great. The obstacles seemed never ending.

Yet through it all there stood Deuce McBride, West Virginia’s talented, confident and humble point guard.

The sophomore from Cincinnati leads the third-seeded Mountaineers (18-9) against Morehead State (23-7) at 9:50 p.m. today in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

WVU STATS
MOREHEAD STATE STATS

“Growing up, it’s one of my biggest dreams to play in March Madness,” McBride said. “It’s been a little different this year, but I’m still happy to be here. Obviously, there’s always been big upsets and big shots by big-time players. This is where they all come to get rolling.”

It took him 58 games to reach this point, after last season’s tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s what the stats say, at least.

In truth, it was much more of an uphill climb for the young man.

His college career, at one time, was in jeopardy after he broke his foot playing football as a junior at Archbishop Moeller.

Interested basketball schools began to look elsewhere, but WVU head coach Bob Huggins stayed the course. Why?

“I’ve known his coach at Moeller in Cincinnati, Carl Kremer, a long time and asked him about him,” Huggins once told the story. “He said, ‘I don’t know about the basketball, but he’s the second-toughest kid I’ve ever coached.’ ”

Toughness. That goes over well with Huggins, who has always believed you can teach basketball to a kid, but not grit and perseverance.

Maybe no one on the Mountaineers roster has it in the abundance McBride has.

He proved that early in his freshman season.

McBride could’ve been like most others in their first season, timid and leaning back while older guys take the lead.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone just come in and be ready to be who they are like Deuce did,” WVU guard Jordan McCabe said. “For him, that was to come in and be ready to compete at the highest level.”

McBride has been proving it ever since.

Throw him up against Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham, possibly the No. 1 pick of the 2021 NBA Draft, and McBride thrived.

In helping WVU pull off a 19-point comeback in the first meeting this season between the two schools, McBride finished with 21 points and five assists.

Huggins gave him the ball in the final seconds against Texas Tech, and McBride found a way to get the ball to go in and then ran down to the other end of the floor and forced Texas Tech’s Mac McClung to take a tough shot at the buzzer that didn’t go in.

“It’s tough to put into words,” WVU guard Sean McNeil said of McBride that night. “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.”

Now the Mountaineers’ leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, McBride’s efforts are catching on. He was named an honorable mention All-American this season.

And, as McBride concluded his Zoom interview with the media on Wednesday, he came across North Carolina head coach Roy Williams.

“Deuce just said he ran into Roy Williams and (Williams) said, ‘Hi,’ ” Huggins relayed the story.

Roy Williams tells you hello, that’s a pretty good sign of where you stand.

How much more has this WVU team gone through?

It lost it’s only McDonald’s All-American on the roster at mid-season when Oscar Tshiebwe transferred to Kentucky.

It lost two weeks of the regular season to the pandemic.

The defense never quite clicked. Promising freshman Isaiah Cottrell went down to a season-ending injury.

More than enough to derail any team, just not one with Deuce McBride on its roster.

Toughness, maybe it rubs off McBride and onto his teammates some.

At least that’s the theory Huggins is sticking with.

“I think if you lit any more of a fire under Deuce, you’d have a forest fire,” Huggins said. “Deuce doesn’t need lit up. He’s a guy who comes in every day and works. He’s a guy who spends countless hours on his own working on his game.”

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