MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Perhaps a road trip to Ames, Iowa, is the necessary prescription for what has been ailing 15^th-ranked West Virginia.
 
Two weeks ago, the Mountaineers were 15-1 and ranked No. 2 in the country following their 57-54 home victory over Baylor.
 
Since then, West Virginia is just 1-4 with its lone win coming at the WVU Coliseum against Texas. The losses were at Texas Tech, 72-71, at home to seventh-ranked Kansas, 71-66, on the road at TCU, 82-73, and most recently at home against Kentucky, 83-76.
 
In each loss, WVU had leads and in three of them - Texas Tech, Kansas and Kentucky - the margin was double digits in the second half. However, scoring droughts have plagued the Mountaineers long before this current stretch of games, and the teams they are playing lately have taken advantage of it.
 
In a snap of a finger, Kansas and Kentucky wiped out those big deficits and made the necessary plays down the stretch to get valuable road wins in Morgantown.
 
Kansas played lights out in the second half, shooting 52 percent from the floor and hitting 10 of its 14 free throw attempts.
 
And Kentucky played just as well. A normally poor Wildcat free shooting throw team hit all 18 of their free throw attempts to overcome a 17-point second half deficit. It might be the best all-around game the youthful Wildcats played this season.
 
"People have played well," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins pointed out. "Give Kentucky a lot of credit for coming back. They went 18-for-18 from the free throw line from people who shoot 52 percent for the year. That's not going to happen again.
 
"You watch tape and the South Carolina game, they missed so many free throws they didn't have a chance to win," he added.
 
Huggins' West Virginia team is dealing with a number of players in shooting slumps at the same time. Senior Daxter Miles Jr. has made just 15.4 percent from 3 over his last five games dating back to Texas Tech.
 
Freshman Teddy Allen, after scoring 57 points in West Virginia's first three Big 12 games, has scored just eight points since. He is just 1-of-13 from the floor since the Oklahoma game.
 
Junior forward Esa Ahmad, after contributing 33 points in his first two games back after serving a 16-game suspension, has scored just eight in his last three games and has failed to make a basket in his last 12 attempts.
 
That's three guys West Virginia is heavily counting on to provide offense.
 
"We've got a slew of guys that were making open shots that aren't making shots now and that puts more pressure on everybody and everything," Huggins admitted.
 
West Virginia continues to get scoring and playmaking from senior guard Jevon Carter, who leads the team in scoring (17.3 ppg.) and assists (6.5 apg.) by substantial margins.
 
But Carter's field goal percentage has slipped to 41.1 percent because he is not only responsible for getting the team into offense, but the offense is usually now running through him - especially when sophomore center Sagaba Konate gets into foul trouble as he has in the losses to Kansas and Kentucky.
 
In those defeats, West Virginia's large leads quickly evaporated when Konate went to the bench in the second half. No other Mountaineer has been able to pick up the slack for what Konate provides in scoring around the basket, his ability to protect the rim or his willingness to go after missed shots on the defensive glass.
 
Over his last four games Konate is averaging 13.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks while shooting 54.8 percent from the floor.
 
The Bamako, Mali, native has easily been West Virginia's best inside player this year on both ends of the floor.
 
"Our biggest concern going into the year was would we be able to score inside?" Huggins said. "I think Sags has gotten much better and he's become a threat in there. We've got to do a better job of getting him the ball."
 
Huggins said his team has also got to do a better job of paying attention to some of the fundamental things it was doing well earlier in the year that enabled it to win 15 of its first 16 games of the season.
 
That's been difficult to manage because of the team's difficult travel schedule in the Big 12.
 
"It's a grind," Huggins said. "With our travel schedule, I try not to go as long and when we were really good earlier in the year, we were really hitting the fundamental things hard. We were breaking things down, and I think as you get later in the season the tendency is to do more team things, so you team-guard more."
 
He continued.
 
"Then as you get farther into the season, you want another defense so if they hurt your man-to-man, then you can play zone or play 1-3-1, half-court trap or do something else," he said.
 
What it boils down to, according to Huggins, is and getting as many wins as you can in the left-hand column.
 
"When they're there for the taking, you've got to take them and it stings a little harder (when you don't get them)," he concluded.
 
Wednesday's game against 11-9 Iowa State will tip at 7 p.m. (EST) and will be televised nationally on ESPNU (Anish Shroff and Dino Gaudio).
 
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 6 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
 


Pregame Notes: Iowa State is coming off back-to-back losses to Texas and Tennessee after defeating No. 8 Texas Tech, 70-52, at Hilton Coliseum … In its most recent loss to the Volunteers, Iowa State scored a season-low 45 points in a 23-point defeat … Yesterday, Cyclones coach Steve Prohm announced starting point guard Nick Weiler-Babb will miss at least the next two games because of tendinitis in his left knee … Weiler-Babb is averaging 11.6 points and a team-best 6.9 assists per game … Six-foot-seven junior forward Zoran Talley Jr. is expected to start in Weiler-Babb's place on Wednesday night, meaning the Cyclones will split ballhandling responsibilities between senior guard Donovan Jackson and 6-foot-2 freshman Lindell Wiggington … Wiggington is Iowa State's leading scorer at 15.9 points per game while shooting a team-best 42.9 percent from 3 … Jackson, also 6-2, is averaging 15.4 points per game and has made a team-best 65 triples … Six-foot-nine freshman forward Cameron Lard is the Cyclones' top inside threat averaging 11.7 points and grabbing a team-best 7.4 rebounds per game … Iowa State has 26 wins versus top 25 teams since 2013-14, fifth-most nationally … The Cyclones have one top 25 victory this year over No. 8 Texas Tech and losses to Kansas, TCU and Tennessee ... West Virginia has won the last four regular-season meetings against Iowa State but trails the Cyclones, 6-5, in the overall series … The Cyclones defeated the Mountaineers, 80-74, in last year's Big 12 Tournament championship game at the Sprint Center in Kansas City … West Virginia slipped eight spots to No. 15 in this week's AP poll and four spots to No. 11 in this week's USA Today coaches' poll … This week marks the 68^th consecutive week in the USA Today poll and the 48^th straight week in the AP poll … West Virginia's longest streak in the AP poll was 56 consecutive weeks from March 1956 to March 1960.