MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the first time in nearly a month, West Virginia is going to play a basketball game at the WVU Coliseum when it meets No. 22 Texas Tech in a Saturday evening Big 12 contest.
 
The Red Raiders (10-4, 1-1) are coming off a 57-52 loss to No. 4 Baylor Tuesday night in Lubbock.
 
Texas Tech got 20 points from outstanding freshman guard Jahmi'us Ramsey, but couldn't contain Baylor's Davion Mitchell, who scored 14 by mostly going to the rim.
 
The Red Raiders did an exceptional job on Baylor's Jared Butler, limiting the Bears' leading scorer to a season-low 5 points, but Tech shot just 37 percent from the floor and got destroyed on the glass, 44-25.
 
That is something West Virginia, the seventh-best offensive rebounding team in the country, will try to exploit.
 
It might have to considering how poorly the Mountaineers have shot the ball in their last two games against Kansas and Oklahoma State, both on the road.
 
WVU (12-2, 1-1) connected on only 32.3 percent of its field goal tries in a seven-point loss at Kansas last Saturday, and was just six percentage points better two days later in a 15-point road win at Oklahoma State.
 
But a smothering defense limited the Cowboys to 41 points – the lowest offensive output by a Mountaineer opponent in a true road game in 71 years. OSU missed its first 16 3-point tries and finished the night 1-for-20 from behind the arc.
 
The Mountaineers will probably need a similar defensive effort on Saturday against the Red Raiders if they continue to struggle from the field and from the free throw line where they are making just 65.2 percent of their freebies.
 
WVU missed nine in the Oklahoma State win, 10 at Kansas and 10 each versus Youngstown State and Ohio State.
 
During that span, West Virginia has been to the free throw line 87 times and has only converted 48 of them for 55.2 percent. 
 
Another alarming stat is turnovers. WVU has turned it over 55 times in its last three games and is fumbling the ball a league-high 14.9 times per game.
 
"You have to lead the league in something," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins joked.
 
But it's also leading the league in field goal percentage defense at 23.5 percent, which is why it has been able to overcome those two deficient areas.
 
"Our guards haven't been as good with the ball as we need them to be but our bigs turn it over excessively," Huggins explained. "It's been a total team effort - you just can't give all of the credit to the guards."
 
Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe and sophomore Derek Culver have been West Virginia's two most reliable scorers averaging 12.2 and 10.4 points per game respectively. Both are also close to double figures in rebounding - Culver at 9.8 boards and Tshiebwe 9.3 rebounds per game.
 
Tshiebwe has blocked a team-high 16 shots.
 
Senior Jermaine Haley (9.3 ppg.) and freshman Miles McBride (9.2 ppg.) have been West Virginia's two most consistent backcourt scorers, while a recent shooting slump has lowered forward Emmitt Matthews Jr.'s scoring average to 8.2 points per contest.
 
The sophomore has made two out of his last 15 field goal attempts since going 4-of-8 against Nicholls here at the Coliseum back on Dec. 14.
 
"We haven't made any shots – and that happens – and I think it's become a psychological thing," Huggins said. "You can't think about shooting while you're shooting. You just need to trust your technique and let it go."
 
Perhaps familiar surroundings will get Matthews going, or facing Texas Tech again. The last time he played against the Red Raiders in last year's Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals he poured in a career-high 28 points in the Mountaineers' stunning 79-74 upset victory.
 
Texas Tech took both regular season games last season, beating the Mountaineers by 31 in Lubbock and notching its first-ever victory in the Coliseum, 62-59 back on Jan. 2.
 
"It's a vintage (Chris Beard) team," Huggins said. "They run great offense, they make you score overtop of them and they don't turn anybody loose at the basket."
 
Saturday's game will tip off at 6 p.m. and has been switched from ESPN2 to ESPN. Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla will call the game on TV, with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs handling the radio play-by-play on MSN from Learfield IMG College. It's also a Gold Rush with all fans encouraged to wear their gold to the arena.
 
West Virginia owns a 13-5 overall record in series play against the Red Raiders.