West Virginia’s Sophomore shooting guard Sean McNeil is the best pure shooter to play for the Mountaineers since Chris Leonard. Leonard is WVU’s all time three point percentage leader at 41.7% during his career from 1989-1992. Jerry West, Alex Ruoff, Kevin Pittsnogle, Patrick Beilein and Frank Young could also all make a case for being West Virginia’s best shooter ever, but this article is not about who the most accomplished three-point shooter to ever play at the Coliseum.
Rather, this is about Sean McNeil and his dazzling start to his West Virginia career. McNeil, who is averaging 7.1 points per game as a reserve for the Mountaineers through the first ten games, is shooting 44.4% from three point range and has been a consistent spark off the bench early on. Dazzling might be a strong word, but what more could West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins expect to get from him so far?
McNeil’s playing time has been limited, averaging only 14.9 minutes per game, but if he had more court time, he could easily score 30 points a game. In fact, when he has played extra minutes during close games when the Mountaineers needed his point production, he’s stepped up and been the team’s go-to scorer during spans this season.
If Bob Huggins needed him to play more minutes and made McNeil a priority in the offense, he could easily average 30 points a game right now. He’s not incredibly gifted athletically, but he’s shifty, a very solid passer, a sneaky good defensive player and he could be the best shooter in the Big 12 Conference.
Last season, McNeil led the nation in scoring (29.7 points per game) as well as 4.3 3 point field goals made per game at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.
West Virginia is a deep, talented team that doesn’t need one scorer to get all of the points, but Sean McNeil is capable of going off on any given night. McNeil is an accomplished scorer and he has two full seasons remaining following this one to chase some of the all-time great West Virginia shooters’ records, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he surpassed them.
