McBride, Bridges help No. 14 West Virginia beat K-State

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Bridges cuts backdoor and finishes with the big jam

Gabe Osabuohien hits Jalen Bridges in stride with a bounce pass, and Bridges finishes the play with a two-handed flush for West Virginia.

Jan 24, 2021, 12:07 am

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- — Miles McBride scored 18 points to help No. 14 West Virginia beat Kansas State 69-47 on Saturday in the Mountaineers’ first game in two weeks because of COVID-19 protocols..

Jalen Bridges added 12 points and Taz Sherman had 10 for West Virginia (10-4, 3-3 Big 12).

“I thought we were a bit rusty offensively, but defensively we stepped up and played one of our best games of the year,” McBride said. “We’ve been watching a lot of film and getting mental reps. Guys that could get on the floor did and we worked a lot on defense.”

Mike McGuirl led Kansas State (5-11, 1-7) with 15 points, and Selton Miguel had 10. The Wildcats had 28 turnovers, the most by a Big 12 team this season and the most in a game under coach Bruce Weber. West Virginia scored 26 points off those mistakes.

“That’s the difference in the game,” Weber said. “We have to play stronger, but we got our butts kicked.”

The Wildcats got within eight points in the second half, but Sherman hit a two 3-pointers in an 8-0 run for West Virginia.

“The guys that had been working out looked good, but the other guys struggled,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “We’ve got to get those guys back in playing shape which is hard with our schedule.”

Huggins said this was a good because the team hasn’t been all together in 14 days.

“It was big since we came off a loss two weeks ago and then got hit with COVID,” he said. “We really hadn’t had a time where we had more than four guys recently. Had to get anything done with that.”

BIG PICTURE

West Virginia: Played well in its first game back in 14 days, but it helped to play one of the worst teams in the conference.

Kansas State: Had way too many turnovers to stand a chance. The Wildcats have lost five straight games by double digits.

UP NEXT

West Virginia: Hosts Texas Tech on Monday night.

Kansas State: At Baylor on Wednesday night.

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