MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Kansas State's once-comfortable, two-game lead in the Big 12 standings has dwindled to just a half game heading into tonight's matchup against West Virginia at the WVU Coliseum.
 
The 23rd-ranked Wildcats (19-6, 9-3) had a two-game lead over Kansas and Texas Tech in the loss column before falling at home to Iowa State 78-64 on Saturday afternoon. In the meantime, Kansas defeated West Virginia and Texas Tech bumped Baylor to create a two-team logjam in second place with five games remaining in the regular season.
 
Iowa State can make it a three-way tie if it can take care of business at home against Baylor in the other Big 12 game tonight.
 
Therefore, tonight's tilt looms large for the Wildcats with ninth-place Oklahoma State coming up on Saturday ahead of a Big Monday showdown at Kansas on Feb. 25.
 
It's the first of three consecutive two-day turnarounds for Kansas State to finish the season. The others are Oklahoma State-Kansas on Feb. 23-25 and Baylor and TCU on March 2-4.
 
Against West Virginia, Kansas State is looking to bounce back after suffering its second-worst Big 12 loss of the season which, ironically, also happened at Bramlage Coliseum against Texas back on Jan. 2.
 
When K-State came back from 21 points down in the second half to trim West Virginia 71-69 in Manhattan back on Jan. 9, the Wildcats were in a must-win situation after losing two straight to Texas and Texas Tech.
 
It's a similar deal for Kansas State tonight and the Wildcats might once again be without the services of Big 12 preseason player of the year Dean Wade, who left in the second half of Saturday's game with a foot injury.
 
 If Wade can't go tonight that removes 13.6 points and 6.6 rebounds from K-State's attack.

"He's got some soreness in his foot this week - it's not the same spot (he was injured before), which we were very, very thankful for," Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said following the Iowa State loss. "When I first talked to (the team doctor) he did not think it was that bad but we will just have to wait and see. Now you have the Big Monday. If you have another day or two, maybe you could get him back but we do not so we'll head there and see what we can do."
 
Of course, Kansas State will get no sympathy from West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who has seen his team decimated by injuries and suspensions this season.
 
Forward Sagaba Konate missed his 17^thgame on Saturday at Kansas – a 78-53 Mountaineer defeat – while guard Beetle Bolden was out for the fifth straight game after injuring his ankle at Tennessee.
 
With dismissed forwards Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris also removed from the equation, West Virginia is playing without his top four players entering the season.
 
Consequently, the offense has struggled mightily. 
 
For the third straight game West Virginia failed to score at least 55 points and it was the fourth time in league play this season WVU has failed to reach 60.
 
Juniors Chase Harler and Lamont West led West Virginia with 11 points each in the 25-point loss to the Jayhawks, while freshman forward Derek Culver barely missed another double-double by scoring nine and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
After falling behind 43-16 at halftime, the Mountaineers actually outscored Kansas in the second half 37-35 despite shooting just 13 percent from 3-point distance for the game. 
 
WVU also finished the game with a 36 to 31 edge on the glass.  
 
The Mountaineers (10-15, 2-10) are going to have to shoot much better tonight and also get their fair share of rebounds if they want to knock off Kansas State and bring some more chaos to the Big 12 race.
 
A 9 p.m. tipoff has been established for tonight's game to accommodate ESPN (Bob Wischusen and Fran Fraschilla).
 
The Mountaineers Sports Network from Learfield IMG College's radio coverage begins at 8 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
 
Tonight's game has been designated a Gold Rush with all Mountaineer fans encouraged to wear their gold.