Men's Basketball, Sports, WVU Sports

Jalen Bridges says fans sent derogatory comments to his girlfriend on social media following loss to Kansas State

MORGANTOWN — Jalen Bridges took to social media late Monday to voice his displeasure with West Virginia fans following the Mountaineers’ 78-73 road loss against Kansas State.

Bridges had nine points and 10 rebounds in what was WVU’s ninth loss in 10 games, but was just 3 of 8 shooting, including 1 of 5 from 3-point range.

After the game, Bridges used his official Twitter account to accuse fans of direct messaging his girlfriend with derogatory comments.

“ No(w) y’all (direct messaging) my girl (because) I missed a few shots in a basketball game … yall (people) so weird bro I swear to (G)od,” Bridges tweeted.

Bridges’ girlfriend is a graduate student at WVU.

It’s not the first time a WVU hoops player has taken to social media to complain about fans’ behavior.

Following the loss to Syracuse last season in the second round of the NCAA tournament, WVU guard Taz Sherman posted on his Twitter account that he was receiving death threats.

“Getting death threats and telling me you gonna kill me and my family is also not a part of sports,” Sherman tweeted. “Sadly, most of ‘em from West Virginia.”

WVU athletic director Shane Lyons told The Dominion Post last March that the school, “looked into the situation,” concerning the threats against Sherman.

WVU will spend Thanksgiving in Oregon

WVU announced Tuesday that it will participate in next season’s Phil Knight Legacy, which will take place from Nov. 24-27 in Portland, Ore.

The event honors Nike founder Phil Knight and invites 16 schools that are sponsored by Nike to compete in two eight-team brackets, with each school playing three games.

Along with West Virginia, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Portland State, Purdue and Xavier will compete in one bracket.

The other bracket consists of Alabama, Iowa State, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oregon, Portland, UConn and Villanova.

The games will be played at the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum, as well as on the campus of the University of Portland.

Ticket information, schedule and brackets will be announced at a later date.

Other than the three games in Oregon, WVU’s non-conference schedule next season will also include a trip to rival Pitt and a home game against UAB, as well as a home game against an SEC team and a road game against a Big East team in the annual challenge series games.

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