MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia College sophomore ahead Jalen Bridges claims he understood he preferred to strictly be a basketball participant by the time he attained fifth quality.
Soccer, baseball and the other individuals sports activities had been out following that.
“Basketball was what I preferred to do when I moved from Bridgeport to Fairmont going into my fifth grade calendar year due to the fact that’s when middle university started,” he suggests. “I type of just dropped each other activity and I just advised my dad (Cory) I want to be a basketball player when I improve up.
“He advised me I was likely to have to function difficult and that’s what we did,” Bridges provides.
Even although Jalen grew up suitable down the highway from West Virginia University, he claims he was not genuinely all that caught up in turning into a Mountaineer when he was a star participant at Fairmont Senior.
He says he wanted to definitely expertise the WVU campus for himself in person to thoroughly enjoy it.
“If I have to preserve it wholly straightforward it was not till I took my official check out below (that he required to participate in for West Virginia) simply because I often considered I wanted to get away from every thing and get absent from each individual distraction I experienced in my lifestyle and just participate in somewhere else in a distinctive condition,” he suggests. “But when I took my official stop by and I looked in the mirror and I noticed that (Mountaineer) jersey on it just felt proper. I received chills all more than my body and it was like, ‘Yeah, this is where I want to be at.'”
Bridges says there are several personalized gains to actively playing for his property point out college.
“My grandparents are setting up to get on the old side and possessing a little little bit of wellness difficulties so they would not really be equipped to journey if I went any place else,” he suggests. “Then my mom and dad, of course, aunts and uncles … cousins, they all get to be a element of this. It genuinely implies the environment to me and not just Fairmont but the entire point out, I am grateful for their help.”
Bridges believes he is nonetheless evolving as a college player. As a freshman, he was generally a wing shooter and now this calendar year he’s showcasing far more of his in general activity.
He’s about doubled his scoring regular from 5.9 points previous 12 months to 9.2 factors heading into Saturday night’s match in opposition to Kansas. He’s also grabbing more rebounds, blocking far more photographs and building more steals when shooting an amazing 85% from the cost-free toss line.
“I felt like previous year I was very little but a 3-place shooter. That is the only issue I was out there executing and now this calendar year I am much more of a focal point. I can bring the ball up. I can initiate the offense at times and I can nonetheless shoot the 3 like I’ve constantly carried out and get it to the basket and develop for myself and my teammates.
“I’m taking little measures and bearing the fruits from it,” he states.

This week’s Life as a Mountaineer was made by Megan Crain and is introduced by Panhandle Cleansing & Restoration every week in the course of the year.
