West Virginia Basketball: 3 takeaways from blowout loss to No. 3 Kansas

2. Miles McBride was the lone positive Mountaineer tonight – and if the Mountaineers want to be taken seriously, he will need help, especially in the backcourt

There is absolutely no denying it at this point: Miles McBride is the best player, currently, on this West Virginia roster.  After averaging just under 10 points a game last season as a freshman, McBride has upped his average to 15.0 points, all the while averaging 4.3 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.

He has been crucial in filling the hole left by Tshiebwe’s slump, but he has also supplied something that the Mountaineers did not have last season: a – successful – offensively-minded guard.  With West Virginia’s Final Four expectations plagued by concerns on offense, McBride has done well to quell those worries, having tallied double-digits in nine of WVU’s eight games.

The 6-2 guard was one of the lone bright spots for the Mountaineers against Kansas, scoring 19 points (8-16 FG, 1-4 3PT, 2-2 FT) to go with five rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal.  He was the lone positive Mountaineer in the box score, finishing the tilt as a +2 in 31 minutes of action.

The issue for West Virginia is those nine minutes where McBride was not on the floor, however.  McBride has been beyond instrumental to WVU’s success – in the past five games, he has played 83% of the minutes delegated to the point guard position, with Jordan McCabe trailing at 13% – and has played in 82.2% of WVU’s minutes overall this season.

McBride played 18 of the 20 first-half minutes without picking up a single foul against Kansas – and WVU led at the end of the stanza, 36-35.  By 15:50 of the second half, with Kansas ahead 46-44, McBride picked up his third foul of the game and was forced to sit.  When McBride reentered at the 11:28 mark, the Jayhawks had ballooned their lead to 10, 57-47.

That absolutely is not an insurmountable lead at all, but that is where another issue presents itself for West Virginia – with the exception of McBride, they do not have a consistent scorer among the first three positions.

Taz Sherman averaged 12.1 points off the bench entering this game but scored just two points against the Jayhawks in 14 minutes.  Sean McNeil, WVU’s sharpshooter, tallying 10.0 points ahead of this showdown – and exploded in the opening half for 20 points behind a perfect 7-7 FG clip, with six of those being three-pointers.  However, McNeil – the only Mountaineer to play all 20 minutes in the second-half – was ineffective in the latter stanza, scoring just four points.

Again, McBride has been the answer to West Virginia’s offensive woes – but he cannot do it alone.  With Tshiebwe not producing and Culver, subsequently, being defended much more relentlessly, McBride has been forced to carry the load – and there is only so much he can do.  The Mountaineers desperately need another guard to step up and produce – on a consistent basis.