Deuce McBride is keeping some really good company of late in the annals of West Virginia basketball.

The sophomore guard is coming off a career-high scoring performance dropping in 31-points, while dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 7 rebounds in a 91-79 win over Kansas.

“I came out a little more motivated today knowing how I played,” McBride said.

If that seems like quite a feat on the surface, it’s because it is.

The only other player to ever score at least 31 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists in a single game is the school’s all-time greatest player in Jerry West.

The Logo did it twice during the 1960 season by scoring 40 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and recording 7 assists against George Washington Feb. 17 and then following that up by hitting 36 points, corralling 16 rebounds and distributing 7 assists against William & Mary Feb. 26.

But that’s it. That’s the entirety of the list in Mountaineers history on the hardwood, speaking to the rarity of what McBride was able to do.

McBride didn’t just score the ball against the Jayhawks; he was efficient doing so. The Ohio native hit 9-16 shots from the floor and 4-5 from three while playing all but 3 minutes for the Mountaineers. That was on the heels of McBride scoring only 18 points on 7-26 shot attempts over the two previous games.

“I really don’t have a feeling because I work for it every day, it’s all about preparation. When I come into a game more prepared and more motivated, I think every shot is going in,” McBride said.

He was especially impressive in the second half pouring in 17 points and hitting several difficult shots when West Virginia needed to put the ball in the basket after Kansas had tied the game over the first two minutes. Big players find a way to make big plays and that’s exactly what McBride did. Just as he did in January leading the Mountaineers from behind with 24 points in an 88-87 win over Texas Tech.

The outburst is impressive enough, but the fact that McBride did it against a team as quality as Kansas in a critical game for the Mountaineers makes it even more meaningful. It is the first time any player has scored 31 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and recorded 7 assists against Kansas since Buddy Hield did it in 2010. But in that game, Hield needed two overtimes to hit those benchmarks.

For the season, McBride sits at 15.9 points per game while shooting 44-percent from the field, 44-percent from three and 83-percent from the foul line. He’s at 4.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. That is as impressive of an overall line as you’ll see in college basketball through 18 games.

McBride has become the engine of this West Virginia team and they have gone as he has on the floor. And he’s putting up some very impressive numbers while doing so.

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