Paige probable favorite to win Big 12's Sixth Man Award
Yesterday and for the third time this season, West Virginia guard Jaysean Paige was named player of the week by the Big 12 Conference after scoring a career-high 34 points against Iowa State and adding another 17 at Oklahoma State.
Last week, like throughout the season, Paige was the best player on the floor for West Virginia.
The recognition from the league adds to an already, strong resume built for the bigger, season achievement – Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year. With only two regular season games remaining, Paige is the clear front-runner for the award.
Paige leads West Virginia in scoring while averaging 14.3 points per game and has recorded double figure totals 21 times this year. In 13 of 16 Big 12 games, he scored at least ten points and is averaging 16.5 points per game in conference play.
“Honestly, I came into the year wanting to start, but I embraced the role of coming off the bench, and right now I’m more comfortable with that than anything else,” Paige said.
“If I end up getting that Sixth Man of the Year award, it’ll have been something that I have worked for.”
Last season, Baylor forward Taurean Prince won the award as a junior, coming off the bench for head coach Scott Drew.
Paige and West Virginia finish the regular season this Saturday in Waco. The role Prince played last season is alike to what Paige has done for West Virginia this year. Additionally, the numbers are almost identical.
A year ago, Prince averaged 13.9 points per game overall and 15.6 points per game in Big 12 play.
“There are a lot of similarities,” Drew said. “Last year when TP (Prince) checked into the game, we could go on a run and he could give us a nice lift and spurt. We saw the same thing when we prepared for West Virginia with him (Paige). We knew when he checked in, the kind of scoring punch he could bring.”
“As a coach, it’s nice to know when you get off to a good start, you can build on that lead, but if you don’t get off to a good start, you bring in someone who can change momentum. It’s great to have someone like that coming off the bench.”
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins can relate to Drew because last Saturday when Oklahoma State jumped ahead 7-2, he called timeout to sub-in Paige at the 16:37 mark. Less than two minutes later, West Virginia had a lead thanks to four points from Paige.
Before West Virginia plays its finale at Baylor, the team hosts Texas Tech tomorrow night, which also is Paige’s senior night.
In the previous meeting between West Virginia and Texas Tech, Paige had 22 points.
Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith doesn’t see anything wrong with Paige becoming the Sixth Man of the Year in the conference.
“Jaysean (Paige) is a kid coming off the bench for them (West Virginia) for such a long time, that he has the heart of a lion,” Smith said. “(Paige) is an excellent shooter, looks for his offense, he can go either way, he’s athletic and overall, he’s just hard to guard.”
Huggins credits the long hours Paige spends before and after practice taking plenty of extra shots.
“He (Paige) has been terrific in a lot of ways. He has really helped our young guys when they watch his work ethic and consequently the success he’s had because of his work ethic, I think that alone helps your program,” Huggins said.
“And he just hasn’t scored points, but has scored points in very key times in games for us.”
As for any other accolades, Paige has a chance to make the All-Big 12 first team even though there is plenty of competition. Buddy Hield from Oklahoma is a lock to make first unit as is Kansas’ Perry Ellis and Iowa State’s Georges Niang.
The final two spots will likely fall between Paige, Prince, Iowa State’s Monte Morris, Kansas’ Frank Mason III and Texas’ Isaiah Taylor. If Paige doesn’t make the first team, he’ll settle for the All-Big 12 second team.