MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia opens Big 12 play on the road against the team predicted to finish last in the conference, and this might be the Mountaineers' stiffest challenge since facing fifth-ranked Texas A&M in the season opener.
 
You put the Cowboys in any other Power 5 Conference and they are probably a middle-of-the-pack or higher preseason pick.
 
If you have any doubts, just ask No. 24 Florida State, which lost for the first time this year to Oklahoma State 12 days ago.
 
"Florida State historically has been really big and really athletic and they kind of dominated them around the rim," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
 
Seventh-ranked West Virginia lost to A&M by 23 in the opener and Oklahoma State lost by 17 points 10 days later. WVU defeated Pitt by nine; OSU defeated the Panthers by six on a neutral site, so that should give you a pretty good idea how closely these two teams are in terms of comparative scores.
 
Welcome to the Big 12!
 
In the last nine months, Oklahoma State has to hire a new coach (Mike Boyton Jr.), deal with a potential NCAA scandal that also includes an ongoing FBI investigation, the dismissal of its top recruiting assistant Lamont Evans and some early-season suspensions.
 
But this team has remained in its cocoon and has surprisingly won 10 of 12 games, its two losses coming to a pair of nationally ranked teams in the Aggies and Wichita State.
 
They've got one of the conference's best all-around players in senior guard Jeffery Carroll, a 6-foot-6-inch swing player who shows averages of 15 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Carroll has not shot it quite as well as he did last year (39.8 percent), but Huggins believes his all-around game has improved.
 
"I think he's playing terrific," he said. "He's rebounding the ball so much better. He keeps so many balls alive for them. I think far and away he's playing the best he ever has."
 
In Huggins' opinion, the straw that stirs the drink for the Cowboys this year is 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior forward Mitchell Solomon.
 
The Bixby, Oklahoma, resident is averaging 8.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and has a team-best 14 blocks. He is to OSU what Nathan Adrian was to West Virginia last year.
 
"He does a little bit of everything," Huggins said. "He knows exactly what they want done. He can score and rebound it. He's a really good post defender. He can run in transition."
 
The rest of Oklahoma State's lineup features experienced players Tavarius Shine (10.8 ppg., 3.8 rpg.) at forward, Kendall Smith (11.1 ppg., 2.6 rpg.) at guard, and Lindy Waters (7.8 ppg., 3.9 rpg.) at guard.
 
The Cowboys can now bring 6-foot-11-inch center Yankuba Sima off the bench to spell Solomon. He transferred from St. John's last year and became eligible at the end of the first term.
 
"They have a transfer from St. John's they bring in to rest Solomon a little bit. He had something like 60 blocks at St. John's his freshman year. They're talented. Lindy Waters (III) has really improved. He's really a good skill guy. He can pass it. He can shoot it and he can bounce it. And he plays multiple positions for them," Huggins said.
 
Huggins said there are some subtle differences in what the Cowboys are doing this year compared to last season when Brad Underwood led Oklahoma State to 20 wins and a narrow NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan.
 
"They're running the same offense. Brad at the end kind of got away from it because he just let (Jawun) Evans make plays," Huggins said. "They're probably more like what Oklahoma State was early last year although they run a lot more. They shoot it more in transition and I think they rebound it better.
 
"I think they're better than what they were a year ago," Huggins added.
 
West Virginia (11-1) has won 11 straight since the season-opening loss to Texas A&M, but Huggins hasn't exactly been thrilled with his team's two recent performances against winless Coppin State and five-win Fordham last Saturday.
 
The Mountaineers shot just 31.2 percent in a 39-point victory over Coppin State and had to turn it on in the second half to finally pull away from the 5-7 Rams, 86-69, last Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.
 


"If we don't play with an edge we're not very good," Huggins said of his team's so-so effort against Fordham. "Our pressure was bad. I think the positive of it was how we played as bad as we played and still scored 86 points."
 
Freshman forward Teddy Allen was the high-point man against Coppin State with a season-high 24, while senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. was West Virginia's top scorer against Fordham with 21.
 
Senior guard Jevon Carter is the team's leading scorer with an average of 18.2 points per game, but he is shooting just 12-of-28 over his last three games to see his season shooting percentage dip to 44.7 percent.
 
Carter is one of three regulars averaging double figures.
 
The other two are Miles Jr. (14.8 ppg.) and sophomore forward Lamont West (12.2 ppg.). Sophomore guard James Bolden is averaging 11 coming off the bench.
 
West Virginia split its two games last year with the Cowboys, winning 92-75 in Stillwater and losing later in the year, 82-75, in Morgantown.
 
WVU has won five out of the last six and now leads the all-time series 6-5.
 
Friday's game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU (Lowell Galindo and Bryndon Manzer).
 
Following Friday's game the Mountaineers will remain on the road to play at Kansas State on Monday evening.