MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One team was picked to finish second in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, the other third, and both are looking to avoid 0-3 starts to the conference season.
 
Preseason No. 2 pick Kansas State is limping along without preseason player of the year Dean Wade, out at least eight weeks after suffering a partial tendon tear in his right foot in a mid-December victory over Georgia State.
 
Coach Bruce Weber's Wildcats, 10-4, 0-2, were also without guard Kamau Stokes for their conference-opening home loss to Texas last Wednesday night. Stokes was back for the Texas Tech loss and played 21 minutes, scoring seven points and handing out a pair of assists.
 
No. 3 choice West Virginia, 8-6, 0-2, has been dealing with its own injury issues. Preseason All-Big 12 pick Sagaba Konate remains on the shelf with a knee injury, while Beetle Bolden and Lamont West have played through various ailments.
 
The Mountaineers took eighth-ranked Texas Tech right down to the wire before falling 62-59 at the Coliseum to open Big 12 play, and also played toe-to-toe with Texas last Saturday in Austin in a seven-point loss to the Longhorns.
 
In both instances, West Virginia was unable to successfully finish the games. 
 
"I think we played the hardest that we've played all year over the last couple of games and we're right there," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "We didn't finish it the way we need to finish it. This league is about a shot here or there. A free throw here or there. A call here or there. If you get one of those you have a great chance to win and if you don't you have a great chance to lose."
 
Kansas State has experienced some of that in its two losses to Texas and Texas Tech.
 
"What was really impressive about them was they got down big against Texas Tech in Lubbock and came back and really had a chance to take the lead," Huggins said. "That's hard to do, particularly when you play a team like Tech that controls the ball so much and controls the tempo of the game so much."
 
Kansas State is getting 13.6 points per game from guard Barry Brown and 10.7 from small forward Xavier Sneed.
 
"Barry Brown is obviously one of the better players in the league. I think their inside people have gotten so much better," Huggins mentioned. "They were pretty much a perimeter team and now they do a better job of throwing it into the post and they are able to score in the post."
 
Huggins expects another tough, physical game that could end up being a low-scoring affair based on the way the two teams are scoring of late.
 
West Virginia is averaging 76.1 points per game, but has failed to crack 60 in both Big 12 games so far this season. Kansas State is averaging 65.2 points per game but is surrendering just 58.9, second only to Texas Tech.
 
"Bruce's teams always guard," Huggins said. "They do play hard and going back and looking at a couple of years ago in the conference tournament that was as hard and as physical a game as we've had since we joined the league. They had a chance to win it at the buzzer."
 
Wednesday night's game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's radio coverage will begin at 6 p.m. on affiliates throughout the Mountain State and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.

 

Briefly: West Virginia has won nine of the last 10 games against Kansas State, including three of its last four at Bramlage Coliseum … Kansas State is 7-1 at home this year, its only loss coming last Wednesday against Texas … K-State is holding its opponents to just 39.7 percent from the floor this year … Huggins said during his Tuesday afternoon teleconference with the media that suspended guard Brandon Knapper will be making the trip out to Manhattan … He did not dress for the Texas loss … Eleven different players have started at least one game for WVU so far this year … The latest to earn a start was freshman walk-on Taevon Horton, who played just two minutes against Texas … Freshman forward Derek Culver continues to come off the bench, but he is rapidly becoming West Virginia's most dependable player … He produced a season-high 17 points in the Texas loss and nearly finished with another double-double, pulling down nine rebounds … Culver is now averaging 11 points and 7.3 rebounds in his four games since coming off of suspension for the Jackson State game … Senior forward Esa Ahmad is West Virginia's top scorer among available players with an average of 13.4 points per game … Bolden (11.4) and West (10.8) are the other players averaging double figures … Huggins was asked Tuesday if he's had an opportunity to meet with new football coach Neal Brown, "We had a brief conversation (Monday). He seems like a great guy. Obviously he's a very accomplished football coach. He's from Kentucky and he loves basketball."