Kansas State (7-9, 0-4 Big 12) continues its most challenging span of the season on Saturday afternoon, as the Wildcats welcome former head coach Bob Huggins and his nationally ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (14-2, 3-1 Big 12) to Bramlage Coliseum. No. 12/13 West Virginia will be the second of three consecutive Top 25 teams for K-State, which will continue with No. 6/7 Kansas (13-3, 3-1 Big 12) on Jan. 21. Saturday’s game will tip at 1 p.m., CT on ESPNU with Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play) and Tim Welsh (analyst) on the call.

-Provided by K-State Athletics Communications

KANSAS STATE (7-9, 0-4 Big 12) vs. 12/13 WEST VIRGINIA (14-2, 3-1 Big 12)

Saturday, January 18, 2020 >> 1:05 p.m., CT >> Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) >> Manhattan, Kan.

TELEVISION

ESPNU

Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play)Tim Welsh (analyst)Paul Ervin (producer)

RADIO

K-State Sports Network

Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580

Online: TuneIn.com [free] / www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

Satellite Radio: XM 383 / Internet 973

Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play)Stan Weber (analyst)

TICKETS

www.kstatesports.com/tickets

(800) 221.CATS [2287]

Gameday: $30 (bench & GA)/$75 (chairback)

Wildcat 4-Pack: $99 ($24.75 each)

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP

Kansas State (7-9)

G: #2 Cartier Diarra

G: #3 DaJuan Gordon

G/F: #20 Xavier Sneed

F: #23 Montavious Murphy

F: #14 Makol Mawien

West Virginia (14-2)

G: #5 Jordan McCabe

G: #10 Jermaine Haley

F: #11 Emmitt Matthews, Jr.

F: #1 Derek Culver

F: #34 Oscar Tshiebwe

-Provided by K-State Athletics Communications

Bob Huggins has recovered nicely this season from a meltdown season last year, featuring one of the most talented rosters in the Big 12. Guys like James Bolden, Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris were gone half way through Big 12 play, Sagaba Konate played only eight games, and Lamont West finished the season before transferring. This season they did return five guys that had double digit starts, added a few transfers and a top 30 high school recruit, and have rebounded to become a team that now sits near the top 10 in nearly every ranking. This will definitely be K-State's toughest test so far this season, as Huggins currently fields the No. 1 defensive efficiency in Kenpom's rankings.

This years Mountaineers defense is very good in multiple areas, but notably they feature the No. 1 eFG% defense, No. 9 2PT% defense, No. 3 3PT% defense and are No. 54 at forcing turnovers. They send opponents to the FT line at a high rate and are only average on the defensive glass.

The offense is solid, ranking in the top 50 in efficiency and featuring the No. 3 offensive rebounding rate while also ranking No. 14 in FT rate, though the Mountaineers only hit 65% when the get there to rank No. 312 nationally. This isn't a great shooting team, at only 30% on threes and 49% on twos, plus they turn the ball over on more than 21% of their possessions (No. 287).

Huggins is playing a lot of guys this year, but not for the same reasons he was last year. Eleven players average double digit minutes, and often they will sub four or five out at a time. The starting line up features four guys that are 6-foot-7 or bigger, but the second unit consists of a group of smaller guards.

Oscar Tshiebwe is a Top 30 recruit now leading the team in scoring, and second in rebounding, with a nice efficiency of 1.12. Derek Culver returns in the post to nearly equal Tshiebwe's line, but at a lower efficiency. Miles McBride doesn't start, but is WVU's best guard at just over 10 points per game and 40.5% 3-point shooting and an efficiency of 1.11. Jermaine Haley is another returner, a big guard who scores over nine points per game. Emmitt Matthews is the fifth best option for WVU, another long guard. Jordan McCabe starts at PG but only plays 13 minutes per game, while Chase Harler and small JUCO transfer Sean McNeil are a couple of shooters off the bench. Returner Brandon Knapper and JUCO transfer Taz Sherman provide more guard depth, and Arkansas transfer Gabe Osabuohien provides depth inside.

Three Keys

1. Handle pressure: This will likely show up most in turnovers and 2PT%. K-State's guards really struggled against Tech's pressure, leading to turnovers on 30% of possessions. If that happens again, this game will be ugly. The Cats have been much better on twos lately and likely need to hit near 50% to be in this one.

2. Hit the glass: Clearly, facing the No. 1 offensive rebounding team will pose a real challenge, especially after being beaten badly on the boards by Tech. K-State needs to try to do some damage themselves against one of the worst parts of WVU's defense, while keeping them at worst at an offensive rebounding rate in the high 20s.

3. Make some threes: This is not a good shooting team for K-State, but is capable of an occasional 40%, or better, shooting game. To win this game that's probably going to be necessary. While WVU's 3PT% defense looks good that number is often a product of other things, and K-State may get some good looks in this one against WVU's pressure.

This is the best team Kansas State has played this year, by far, and a really, really bad match-up for K-State on paper. Anything can happen, of course, and, as @ksu_FAN and I discussed on the latest KSO Show, Bruce Weber has beaten Bob Huggins in the past when Huggins had the significantly better team. All of that said, there's no real, sound analytical data suggesting K-State keeps this game especially close, and I see a third-straight, 10-plus-point Big 12 loss for the Wildcats.

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