MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Miles McBride had 11 points in his first start, Sean McNeil also scored 11 and No. 17 West Virginia took over early in the second half to beat Oklahoma State, 65-47, on Tuesday night, giving coach Bob Huggins another milestone win.
Huggins earned his 879th career victory to tie North Carolina’s Dean Smith for sixth all-time among Division I coaches.
West Virginia (19-7, 7-6 Big 12) cut down on its turnovers in breaking a three-game losing streak, which included losses last week to top-ranked Baylor and No. 3 Kansas.
The Mountaineers fell behind by 10 early but got back on track with tough defense. Oklahoma State shot 17% (5 of 30) from the floor after halftime and was held to 14 points, the fewest allowed by West Virginia this season.
McNeil made three free throws after getting fouled on a 3-pointer. That capped a 20-4 run to start the second half and gave the Mountaineers a 48-37 lead with 8 minutes, 42 seconds remaining.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 rebounds, Derek Culver pulled down 10 off the bench and West Virginia outrebounded Oklahoma State 42-29.
West Virginia’s comeback actually started with the final shot of the first half. Jermaine Haley hit a 3-pointer from the corner on an inbounds pass as time expired. That trimmed the Mountaineers’ deficit to 33-28, and they maintained the momentum the rest of the way.
Cameron McGriff scored 19 points for Oklahoma State (13-13, 3-10), which won its previous two games.
The Cowboys shot 60% from the floor in the first half but went cold after that, going more than five minutes without a field goal to start the second half.
The Mountaineers averaged 17 turnovers during their losing streak but committed only 10 Tuesday. Still, there’s plenty of work to do to earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia shot just 2 of 16 from 3-point range.
