Record Game Earns McBride Big 12 Newcomer of the Week

Coming off a career game as a freshman in the Mountaineer uniform, Miles “Deuce” McBride has been named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week.

Compared by some to WVU alum Jevon Carter, the Cincinnati native showed leadership qualities Saturday against Ohio State draining shots his teammates and coach knew he is capable of making.

“He played extremely well and he did that in Cancun too so I am pretty used to it. He does that in practice everyday,” senior guard Chase Harler said. “He is a great player. He is going to have a great career here. He was big for us today.”

In a Tweet, Carter let his feelings known about the freshman guard.

That boi Miles McBride gone be something special🤫I really like his game

— Jevon Carter (Bulldog) (@nextlevel_03) December 29, 2019

McBride ignited the Mountaineers off the bench, scoring a team-high 21 points on Sunday.

“That’s what he did for us down in Cancun,” Head Coach Bob Huggins said about McBride after the 67-59 victory over the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes. “We were struggling to score, and we weren’t sure what we were going to do inside. I thought maybe we could just flatten them out and let him play.”

Sophomore Derek Culver said Deuce has been “remarkable” in his eyes.

“Deuce, man he was pulling all sorts of things out of his hat today,” Culver said with a large smile on his face. “… He has been coming through with big shots, he plays defense and he is a team player. He really likes to be around the guys, and the team continuity everything. I feel like if we keep guys like that who is like a sponge — and what I mean by a sponge is like wants to learn everything — we will be alright.”

While his teammates joked after the game about McBride’s jumper from the foul line late in the game, he said his thought process at the time was just to score.

“I was going into my regular pull-up jumper and I knew the clock was running down,” McBride said. “He stepped up and made a great play and I just went up under him and I knew the buzzer was about to sound so I hoping to flick it off.”

McBride said opportunities came to him and the game and he took advantage.

“Hopefully opportunities come like that in the next couple of games,” he said.

His game-high and career-high points led WVU to its first win over a Top 5 team away from home since defeating No. 2 Kentucky in 2010 in the NCAA tournament.

McBride joins freshman Oscar Tshiebwe to the list of Newcomer of the Week winners.