MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bob Huggins is hopeful a flip of the calendar to February will bring better fortunes to his ailing West Virginia University men's basketball team.
 
The Mountaineers posted just one victory during a brutal January that saw them face four nationally ranked teams and play five difficult games on the road at Texas, Kansas State, TCU, Tennessee and Iowa State – all losses.
 
West Virginia's last three defeats have come by double-digit margins, including a 25-point loss at 20^th-ranked Iowa State earlier this week.
 
WVU's lone win in January occurred at the WVU Coliseum on a Saturday afternoon 13 days ago against seventh-ranked Kansas, 65-64.
 
Perhaps Saturday is the day West Virginia (9-12, 1-7) gets back on the winning side of the ledger.
 
The Mountaineers will be facing an Oklahoma team that is coming off its worst home loss in conference play since 1963.
 
Baylor did whatever it pleased on Monday night in a 77-47 victory over the Sooners at Lloyd Noble Center. Oklahoma has now dropped three of its last five games to put it at 3-5 in Big 12 play, one game ahead of Oklahoma State and two games up on West Virginia at the bottom of the league standings.
 
"Not much from our direction, not much positive," Oklahoma coach Lon Krugeer said after the Baylor loss. "They had their way on both ends of the floor. We didn't do what we have to do to fight that off. We were way too tentative to match their physicality.
 
"We've been inconsistent with results, certainly in Big 12 play," he added.
 
The Mountaineers are hopeful the 15-6 Sooners remain inconsistent on Saturday.
 
Oklahoma's two big guns are 6-4 guard Christian James, averaging 16.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, and 6-9 forward Brady Manek, who shows averages of 11.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
 
"They do a great job of finding mismatches and creating space where guy can go to work," Huggins said. "Lon's teams have always been very good, very sound, defensively."
 
James has made a team-best 44 triples, but is coming off a one-for-seven shooting performance from behind the arc against the Bears.
 
Six-seven forward Kristian Doolittle (12 points) and 6-3 guard Miles Reynolds (11 points) were the only Oklahoma players to reach double figures against Baylor.
 
But West Virginia has struggled all season long to contain opposing guards, as was the case on Wednesday night in frigid Ames when Cyclone guard Lindell Wiggington dropped in 27 in their 93-68 victory.
 
The Mountaineers are in uncharted territory this year by allowing 75.3 points per game, while opposing teams are shooting an alarming 44 percent against them.
 
WVU played the Iowa State game without guard Beetle Bolden, who injured his ankle trying to grab an alley oop pass during last Saturday's loss at top-ranked Tennessee. Bolden is averaging 12.2 points per game, including a team-best 14.6 points per game in conference action despite dealing with numerous physical ailments this season.
 
West Virginia also played is 12^thstraight game without preseason All-Big 12 forward Sagaba Konate, who continues to rehabilitate his injured knee.
 
The injuries to Konate and Bolden, dating back to preseason practice, have really put the Mountaineers behind the eight-ball this season.
 
Junior forward Lamont West is coming off a 24-point performance at Iowa State to boost his season average to 10.9 points per game. Senior forward Esa Ahmad contributed 11, including his 1,000^thcareer point against the Cyclones, and is presently leading all available Mountaineer players with an average of 12.4 points per game.
 
Freshman forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored all 11 of his points in the second half against Iowa State, including nine in a row during one stretch.
 
Huggins indicated during the taping of his weekly United Bank Playbook segment that Matthews' performance on Wednesday night warranted more playing time against the Sooners on Saturday.
 
"It's hard for freshmen sometimes because they get a little bit overwhelmed," Huggins said. "This game, because of what Lon does with his two forwards, we're going to have to really guard because that's their team. Of course, he does a really good job with the bigs of circling under or circling in front, depending upon which way the ball is driven but, yeah, I think Emmitt deserves a shot anyway."
 
Freshman forward Derek Culver contributed eight points, four rebounds and three assists on Wednesday night and shows averages of 11 points and 7.7 rebounds in 11 games so far this season.
 
"After Wednesday night's game (the players) were talking and saying all of the right things," Huggins said. 'We've got to take better care of the basketball, we've got to guard better and we've got to quit giving up straight-line (drives)."
 
Oklahoma will be making its seventh trip to Morgantown where it owns a 3-3 record. The Sooner hold a 9-7 advantage in series play, although West Virginia has won four out of the last five meetings including an 89-76 decision at the Coliseum last year.
 
At halftime of Saturday's game, the surviving members of West Virginia's 1959 NCAA runner-up team that lost to California, 71-70, in the national championship game will be honored at halftime to celebrate the 60^thanniversary of that special season. 
 
A noon tipoff is assigned for Saturday's game, which will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Mark Neely, Fran Fraschilla and Kris Budden).
 
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's radio coverage begins at 11 a.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
 
The broadcast can also be heard on Sirius channel 135 and XM channel 199 on satellite radio.