Deuce McBride Leads WVU to First-Round NCAA Victory Over Morehead State

West Virginia University sophomore Miles “Deuce” McBride has played like one of the best point guards in the country at times this season and he showed what he can do to a national audience Friday night, scoring 30 points in WVU’s 84-67 win over Morehead State in the first round of the men’s NCAA Tournament.

No. 14 seed Morehead State (23-8, 17-3) gave No. 3 seed West Virginia (19-9, 11-6 Big 12) a fight, but the Mountaineers were able to eventually pull away and advance to the second round.

Following a sluggish start, West Virginia came alive from 3-point range. The Mountaineers’ first three field goals came from beyond the arc courtesy of McBride, Sean McNeil and Jalen Bridges. Bridges’s 3-pointer kicked off an 11 to 0 West Virginia run that put the Mountaineers up 17-6 six and a half minutes into the game.

From there, the Eagles showed why they had won 19 of their last 20 games. MSU answered the Mountaineers’ run with an 11 to 0 run of its own, tying the game at 17-17 with 10 minutes left in the half. WVU’s offense went cold during that stretch, shooting 0 of 5 from the floor.

WVU’s offense started to turn around when McBride checked back into the game at 6:26. The sophomore went on to score seven straight points, helping the Mountaineers build up a halftime 38-31.

While it appeared the Mountaineers would be able to ride their momentum to a large second-half lead, Morehead State came out of halftime with other plans. The Eagles started the second half on a 10 to 4 run, cutting the Mountaineers’ lead to just 42-41. It was again McBride who came up big for WVU. On one trip down the floor, McBride scored six points on a layup and free throws stemming from a flagrant foul that put WVU back up 55-45.

Morehead State continued to hit shots, but the Eagles were never able to put together one more run to really get back into the game. West Virginia maintained a double-digit lead for the final eight minutes of the game and cruised to the 84-67 victory.

West Virginia played its best when the temp was faster. The Mountaineers turned 18 Morehead State turnovers into 24 points and scored 20 fastbreak points. McBride finished with a game-high 30 points on 11 of 17 shooting. Bridges (15), Derek Culver (12) and McNeil (13) all also scored in double digits. WVU shot 32 of 63 (50.8%) from the floor and 9 of 18 from deep.

Morehead State forward and OVC freshman of the year Johni Broome struggled with fouls in the second half, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. MSU’s leading scorer was DeVon Cooper, with 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Skyelar Potter scored 18 points.

The victory was career coaching win 900 for WVU coach Bob Huggins. He joins Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and Roy Williams as the only Division I men’s basketball coaches to ever win 900 games.

WVU will play Syracuse in the second round of the tournament on Sunday. The No. 11 seeded Orange defeated No. 6 seed San Diego State 78-62 in their first round matchup.