MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia's veteran associate head coach Larry Harrison knows a good player when he sees one and Taz Sherman caught his eye a couple of years ago.
 
Sherman was a high-scoring guard at Collin College in McKinney, Texas, good enough to earn second team junior college All-America honors. He had the fourth-best scoring average in the country and once scored 47 points in a game against Grayson College.
 
But for whatever reason, the Power 5 offers were not coming his way.
 
That is until Harrison showed up.
 
"I knew I was (a Power 5 player) and I didn't have any Power 5 offers," Sherman says. "Coach Harrison used to come to my school every free weekend and that really showed a lot. I felt like I was a priority to them and that was a big thing with my recruitment.
 
"I felt like I was needed instead of wanted," he adds.
 
He was needed. 
 
The Mountaineers were looking for reliable outside shooters, and Sherman has more than fit the bill. He came on during the latter part of the 2020, scoring a season-high 20 points in a road loss at Baylor and adding 16 at TCU.
 
This year, he has developed a niche as a player who gives West Virginia instant offense coming off the bench – the Mountaineers' version of The Microwave, Vinnie Johnson, who used to do the same thing for the world champion Detroit Pistons in the late 1980s.
 
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has always loved to have players come off the bench to provide a spark, what he calls "that old Boston Celtics pop," which is exactly what Sherman provides.
 
He's grown to embrace that role.
 
"I actually love coming off the bench. I'm supposed to add that spark and that energy," he says. "That's always been a big thing for me. My high school coaches preached energy, and right now, the teams that are creating the most energy among themselves win.
 
"It's not about starting to me – it's about minutes," he added. "Are you in the game at the end of the game? Are you trustworthy? That's what I've been really trying to do, and at this point, I might as well win the Sixth Man of the Year."
 
He's been making a strong case lately, scoring all 19 of his points at Oklahoma in the second half, contributing 20 in a come-from-behind win at Oklahoma State and adding 17 in last-second loss to Texas.
 
Sherman is averaging 12.4 points per game, which is third on the team.
He's also performing on the defensive end of the floor. Exhibit A was his heads-up play with 19 seconds left in the Iowa State win when he knocked the ball off guard Tyler Harris' leg as the Cyclones were looking to retake the lead.
 
"I've hit like two or three game winners in my life, but I've never had as important a defensive stop as that," Sherman says. "It was probably the most important defensive stop I've made in my entire life. I had to get into a different gear, and I eventually sped up and knocked the ball off of him."
 
That's at the end of games. The Missouri City, Texas, resident is making things happen even before they begin. He has developed a pregame ritual with assistant coach Erik Martin where they both do a high-five as the players run off the floor before pregame introductions.
 
"It just happened," he shrugs. "We started that last year, and it was more of like a 'we're here thing' than 'OK, I'm going to do this and you do this.' I was the last one to make a shot before we go back into the locker room before we come back out, and I always do that so I guess we just created something. It became a thing and we're going to continue to do it as long as I'm here."
 
Presently, Sherman is just looking forward to return to the floor and doing whatever it takes to get the team back into the NCAA Tournament.
 
It would have gotten there last year if not for the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"I just want to win at the end of the day," Sherman says. "It's not a personal thing for me – it's a team thing. I want everybody to do well and have success, and I think we can go really far.
 
I hope I can keep playing the way I have been recently and help me team get as far as possible," he concludes.
 
This Life as a Mountaineer was produced by Chris Ostien and is presented by our friends at Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.