MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two teams in very unfamiliar positions will meet Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.
 
Fourteenth-ranked Kansas, which has already lost four times in Big 12 play this year, is two games behind league-leader Kansas State with three weeks left in the regular season.
 
The Jayhawks are gunning for their record 15^th-straight Big 12 regular season title.
 
"They're in as good a driver's seat as maybe (any) that we've been in in the past with six games left," Self said Thursday on his weekly teleconference with Big 12 media. 
 
Kansas faces West Virginia on Saturday and then goes to Texas Tech before a Monday night showdown against the 18^th-rated Wildcats on Feb. 25.
 
West Virginia, too, is in the unusual position of being four games under .500 and at the bottom of the conference standings so late in the season.
 
If WVU remains under .500 for the rest of the season it will only be the fourth time in 37 years of coaching that has happened to Bob Huggins.
 
To make matters worse, Huggins is dealing with a dwindling roster that is now down to 11 healthy players after the announcement earlier this week that forwards Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris have been dismissed from the team.
 
Their departures mean opportunities for younger players such as Emmitt Matthews Jr., Andrew Gordon and Trey Doomes to get more minutes.
 
It also means even more minutes for junior forward Lamont West, whose scoring average has dipped below 10 points per game for the first time since mid-November.
 
West has scored just seven points in his last three games after putting up 24 in a road loss at Iowa State.
 
"We've got guys that played a lot of minutes," Huggins explained. "I think the beauty of playing a lot of guys is guys have experience. It's not like we're putting guys out there that have no experience."
 
Matthews Jr. is still looking to assert himself despite appearing in 20 games and averaging 10.3 minutes per game. He scored 11 in 19 minutes of work against Rider and also had 11 in the Iowa State loss, but he's shooting just 37 percent from the floor for the season, and he's made some turnovers in critical situations.
 
Gordon, too, has struggled when the basketball is in his hands. The sophomore forward has committed 25 turnovers compared to just one assist.
 
Huggins mentioned after last Saturday's loss to Texas that he needs to find ways to get Doomes into the game. He's appeared in just eight games since having his redshirt lifted before the Oklahoma State game, and he's considered West Virginia's most effective penetrator.
 
Junior Logan Routt will also likely see his minutes increase after logging just 16 minutes of action in West Virginia's last four games.
 
It will be interesting to see how some of these guys hold up on Saturday at Kansas over an extended period of time.
 
"Generally, they run out of wind," Huggins said. "It depends on the person. Some guys come out and really seize the opportunity and other guys kind of get nervous and don't seize the opportunity."
 
Huggins said on his weekly Thursday morning teleconference with Big 12 media there is no update on the health status of guard Beetle Bolden, out with a high ankle sprain since the Tennessee loss, and forward Sagaba Konate, who has missed the last 16 games with an injured knee.
 
It's likely those two will be sitting on the bench once again Saturday in street clothes.
 
Therefore, a starting lineup possibly consisting of West and Derek Culver in the frontcourt with Chase Harler, Brandon Knapper and Jermaine Haley in the backcourt will have the difficult assignment of slowing down a Kansas team out for revenge.
 
The Mountaineers upset the then seventh-rated Jayhawks 65-64 at the Coliseum back on Jan. 19.
 
West Virginia limited Kansas to just 37 percent shooting in the first half and held the Jayhawks scoreless over the remaining 2:23 of the game.
 
Haley's driving basket with 8.5 seconds left was the deciding score of the game. It was West Virginia's fifth victory over Kansas at the Coliseum; the Mountaineers are 0-6 against Kansas in Lawrence.
 
Huggins said they key to sticking with Kansas on Saturday will be limiting its transition baskets.
 
"They get so many layups. They really drive the ball at the goal," he explained. "We've just got to make them beat us from the perimeter."
 
The Jayhawks are also undermanned with Lagerald Vick taking a leave of absence to attend to a personal issue, while Marcus Garrett has been nursing an ankle injury.
 
Self said Thursday he's preparing for Saturday's game without both guards.
 
He's also played most the season without his two best bigs – Udoka Azubuike and Silvio De Sousa.
 
Still, Huggins is expecting to face a highly motivated Kansas team playing in a super-charged atmosphere.
 
"I guess Bill Self said on (Thursday's Big 12 coaches') teleconference it has become a very 'heated' rivalry. I thought you had to win a bunch to make people feel that way," he joked. "We've gotten them a few, but we haven't gotten them near enough."
 
Saturday's game will tip at 4 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla).
 
The Mountaineers Sports Network from Learfield IMG College's radio coverage will begin at 3 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
 
Kansas owns a 10-5 all-time advantage in series play.
 
Other Big 12 action on Saturday has eighth-place Oklahoma playing at seventh-place TCU and ninth-place Oklahoma State playing at sixth-place Texas
 
The two key conference matchups have fourth-place Baylor playing at second-place Texas Tech and fourth-place Iowa State facing league-leader Kansas State in Manhattan.