Jalen Bridges Shines in First Career Start

West Virginia redshirt freshman forward Jalen Bridges rises to the occasion in his first career start

On Friday, the West Virginia basketball program was thrown a curveball after sophomore forward Oscar Tshiebwe stepped away from the team. Head coach Bob Huggins closed the door on a Tshiebwe return just an hour later as Mountaineers were preparing to travel to Norman, OK, to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday.

The easy solution was to place Gabe Osabuohien in the starting role in place of Tshiebwe, but Huggins opted to put in redshirt freshman Jalen Bridges. Huggins has been high on the Fairmont, WV native since his arrival to Morgantown, even to go as far as saying that he was one of the top three or four players in practice at the end of last season.

“Leading up to the game, I kind of had nerves. I was kind of shaky - I was overthinking it,” said Bridges. “As soon as we arrived at the gym, my teammates just came together with me, they told me, ‘Just play your game, be aggressive. There’s nothing to fear; you’re meant to be here.”

West Virginia jumped out to a 10-6 lead before the Mountaineers went on a nearly five-minute scoring drought that Bridges ended with a three off the left-wing, and he was just getting started. He shot 3-4 from the arc and scored 11 big first half points. Outside of Bridges' 11-point first half, the rest of the team shot 3-25, including 1-6 from three-point range.

“I was just ready for the opportunity," said Bridges. "I wish it could have been under better circumstances, but you always got to be ready to step in there and produce, and I feel like as soon as I saw that first one go in; it was just green light from there, and my teammates were doing a great job of finding me in my spots and setting me up for wide-open threes.”

“It really just opened up everything for me; I wasn’t nervous at all. It was just like I’m playing in practice,” later added Bridges. “That was a hard-fought game that how every day of practice is and that what really prepares me. I approach practice every day like it’s a game, so when I finally got my shot today, I was prepared for it.”

West Virginia trailed at the half by 18, and Bridges immediately ignited the Mountaineers' second half comeback. On the second half's opening possession, Bridges forced a turnover that led to him bury a corner three. Then, on the Mountaineers ensuing possession, he drew the defender in the air on a pump fake at the top of the key and drove the lane, and as the defense shifted up to help, he dished it off to Emmitt Matthews Jr. for an easy dunk that sparked a 9-0 run.

The Mountaineers did come back to tie the game but ultimately came up short 75-71.

Bob Huggins voiced his frustrations of West Virginia’s first half performance following the game, but he acknowledged that Bridges played “really well.” Bridges finished the game with 19 points on 7-9 shooting from the field and 5-6 from three.

West Virginia has a quick turnaround as they stay within the State of Oklahoma and head to Stillwater to meet the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 9:00 pm EST on ESPN2.

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