Jaysean Paige to play in All-Star Game
The West Virginia basketball team may not have earned a trip to the Final Four, but one Mountaineer will be playing on the floor in Houston.
Leading scorer Jaysean Paige has been selected to play in the Reese’s All-Star Game on Friday, which is part of the Final Four festivities in Houston.
Paige joins nine other players on the West squad in the game, which will be played at NRG Stadium on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Yes, Paige will be playing on the West squad. Of course, West Virginia is in the east, but all that matters is that Paige was selected for this high honor.
Thing is, there are other eastern-based players joining Paige on the West team. Trey Freeman of Old Dominion, Egidijus Mockevicius of Evansville and Matt Costello of Michigan State are also on the West team.
Paige will also be teammates with Thomas Walkup of Stephen F. Austin, the team that knocked the Mountaineers out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round on March 18.
In that game, Walkup was a one-man wrecking crew, scoring 33 points with nine rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block. Walkup was an efficient 19 of 20 from the foul line as his Lumberjacks beat the Mountaineers by 14 points.
This will be a chance for Paige to redeem himself.
In the game against SFA, he scored just nine points. He led the WVU basketball team this past season with 13.7 points and he will leave the program as one of the most-improved players under head coach Bob Huggins.
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As a senior, Paige was Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, a second-team All-Big 12 performer and earned three Big 12 Player of the Week honors through the season.
His contributions to the WVU basketball program will certainly be missed. Being knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament is not how he wanted his Mountaineer career to end.
Playing in this All-Star Game will give Paige one last chance to end his collegiate career on a high note.