MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Less than a month ago, West Virginia took a flu-ridden basketball team into Ames, Iowa, and listened to Iowa State fans chant "overrated" during a 93-77 loss to the Cyclones.
 
On Saturday, the Cyclones (13-14, 4-11) are bringing a wounded and depleted team to Morgantown to face the No. 21-rated Mountaineers.
 
Point guard Nick Weiler-Babb, who didn't play in the Jan. 31 game against West Virginia, is now out for the season with a knee injury.
 
Forward Solomon Young, who made all six shots he took and finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds against the Mountaineers, might also be done for the season after recently undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
 
Backup senior forward Hans Brase has a bum knee and may or may not be available Saturday, and the team's second-leading scorer, Donovan Jackson, who scored a game-high 25 in the West Virginia victory, is in Milwaukee to attend his father's funeral.
 
Jackson played an inspirational game in Iowa State's home loss to TCU on Wednesday night, scoring a team-high 27 as the Cyclones fell by six.
 
Therefore, Iowa State could have just six guys available on Saturday depending upon the health status of Brase, who lasted played at Baylor 20 days ago.
 
That doesn't bode well for a young Iowa State team that is winless on the road in conference play this year. Iowa State's Big 12 road losses this season have been by scores of 96-87 at Oklahoma State, 83-78 at Kansas, 96-73 at TCU, 73-57 at Texas, 81-67 at Baylor, 76-58 at Texas Tech and 78-66 at K-State.
 
At Hilton Coliseum, the Cyclones are 4-4 in Big 12 play, including that 16-point victory over the Mountaineers.
 
"I think they just play with so much more confidence (at home), and they have a great crowd," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "They will have a great crowd there every time they play no matter who they play, and I think the crowd kind of lifts them up a little bit, particularly when they come out early and make shots like they did against us."
 
Freshman guard Lindell Wigginton has had an exceptional rookie season for Iowa State, averaging 15.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Wigginton had 22 points and five assists in the West Virginia game and hit made three of five from 3.
 
Forward Cameron Lard, another freshman, scored 18 points on nine-of-12 shooting.
 
Both of those guys are available Saturday, as are forward Zoran Talley Jr., Jakolby Long, Terrence Lewis and Jeff Beverly.
 
West Virginia (20-8, 9-6) is coming off an 11-point win at Baylor on Tuesday and still has a mathematical chance of finishing first in the Big 12, although that is out of the Mountaineers' hands.
 
The big game in the Big 12 takes place at 4:15 Saturday afternoon when first-place Kansas travels to Lubbock, Texas, to play No. 2 Texas Tech.
 
The Red Raiders will then travel to Morgantown to play West Virginia on Monday night and then the Mountaineers wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Texas.
 
"We're going to have to have other people win some games for us," Huggins noted. "There's an outside chance if we win out."
 
With the conference regular season championship out of its control, what the Mountaineers do have control of is their NCAA Tournament seed. Right now, according to ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi, the Baylor victory earlier this week boosted West Virginia from a five to a four-seed.
 
Some more wins down the stretch here could help WVU move up a little farther before the tournament field is revealed on Sunday, March 11.
 
"We're playing for an NCAA seed. At this time of year, I think that's what everybody's doing," Huggins explained. "I think all the conversation you hear about teams in the upper tier, lower tier or whatever, is about winning games. It's either winning games to move up in the seeding or winning games to be able to solidify your position in the NCAA Tournament."
 
Despite recent losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State, West Virginia has been playing well of late by winning four out of its last six.
 
Huggins believes that coincides with senior guard Daxter Miles Jr.'s return to good health. He scored a team-high 22 in the Kansas loss and scored 10 with four assists in the Baylor win, including converting a big four-point play to stop Baylor's second-half run.
 
Miles is the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 12.1 points per game.
 
"You take a senior guard out of there - particularly when you only have two seniors - and then when he comes back he's kind of out of sync and not playing well, and now I think he's playing at a high level and that has helped us tremendously," Huggins said.
 
Huggins believes his team is capable of beating anybody on any given day when it plays the way it is capable of playing.
 
"We have to make shots, and I know I say that a lot, but that's a reality," he said.
 
Tip time for Saturday's game is 6 p.m. ESPNU (Mark Neely and Robbie Hummel) will televise the game nationally.
 
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 5 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app TuneIn.
 
Pregame Notes: Senior guard Jevon Carter needs just one assist to become the first player from a Power 5 conference to score more than 1,500 points, grab 500 rebounds, hand out 500 assists and make 300 steals during his career … Carter shows 1,588 points, 503 rebounds, 499 assists and 303 steals heading into Saturday's game against Iowa State … Carter can win his 100^th career game on Saturday; Miles Jr. has been involved in 94 victories during his four-year Mountaineer career … Sophomore forward Sagaba Konate is coming off a career-high nine blocks on Tuesday night at Baylor … Fifty-two of Konate's 91 blocks so far this season have come in Big 12 play, an average of 3.5 per game … Coach Bob Huggins has now won 20 or more games in eight of the 11 seasons he's been at West Virginia … This year is the 32^nd 20-win season in school history … According to WVU Game Day parking coordinator Joyce Bucklew, the Coliseum parking lots, normally open three hours before tipoff, will not be open until 4 p.m. on Saturday due to the West Virginia women's game against Oklahoma State taking place at 1 p.m … While Saturday's game is a sellout, there are still about 200 tickets remaining for Monday's Senior Night game against Texas Tech, according to senior associate athletic director Matt Wells … That game will tip off at 9 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.