MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Eighth-rated West Virginia gets an early start to Big 12 play when it meets Iowa State Friday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
The Cyclones (1-3) are coming off a disappointing 74-65 home loss to Kansas State, which recently lost to Division II Fort Hays State.
 
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins cautions not to read too much into those two things. One, Kansas State is a young team that is improving. Two, Iowa State is still trying to find its way without star guard Tyler Haliburton, now playing in the NBA, and veteran coach Steve Prohm is still trying to blend three former transfers into his starting rotation.
 
"They're talented. They've got some transfers that had some success in other programs," Huggins said. "They can score the ball."
 
Huggins is really impressed with 7-foot freshman forward Xavier Foster, a four-star recruit from Iowa's Okaloosa High. Foster came off the bench to score 10 points and grab a couple rebounds in the Kansas State loss, and it could be just a matter of time before he finds his way in the starting lineup.
 
"He's extremely talented," Huggins said.
 
Against Kansas State, the Cyclones started three guards – Rasir Bolton, Darlingstone Dubar and Jalen Coleman-Lands – and two forwards, Javan Johnson and Solomon Young.
 
If they go that route they will be forfeiting significant size to the Mountaineers.
 
Bolton, a former Penn State transfer, is a familiar player while Johnson comes to Iowa State from Troy. Coleman-Lands is a graduate transfer from Illinois.
 
Iowa State is one of three Big 12 home teams to lose its conference opener.
 
"We are going to reinforce with our guys today that the road teams in our league are 3-0," Huggins explained. "We haven't had a road team lose yet. That means the home team better be ready to play, and we're going to emphasize that.
 
"One of our goals at the beginning is to win the conference, and you can't win the conference if you're losing home games," he added. "You look at the teams that win the league and they've defended their homecourt. When Texas Tech made a run at it, they defended their homecourt. Kansas has always defended their homecourt. There is a blueprint for us; we've just got to be able to follow it."
 
West Virginia (6-1) certainly followed a winning blueprint last Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum when it ran 19^th-ranked Richmond right out of the gym. The Mountaineers put on an eight-minute show to end the first half to take a commanding lead over the Spiders, who won at Kentucky and most recently defeated Vanderbilt by 11.
 
Guard Miles McBride was 9-of-11 from the floor and finished with a game-high 20 points against the Spiders. West Virginia also got solid shooting performances from guards Taz Sherman (15 points) and Sean McNeil (12 points).
 
Overall, West Virginia shot a season-best 58.1%.
 
Based on the way the Mountaineers play defense, if they come anywhere close to shooting that well, they will be a tough out for teams the rest of the way this season.
 
"I thought we played extremely well on Sunday, for the most part," Huggins said.
 
He thought his team was a little sluggish during its home opener last Friday afternoon against North Texas as a result of the traveling it did during the early part of the season that included a cross-country trip to South Dakota and bus rides to Indianapolis and Washington, D.C.
 
"Our situation was a little complex in that we had played a lot of games in a short period of time, and we had traveled a lot more miles than most," he explained. "We gave our guys Monday off. Tuesday, they came in and looked at film as a team and (Wednesday) was the first day we practiced as a team since Richmond.
 
"That travel takes a lot out of you, so I wanted to try to get their legs back, and they were good (Wednesday) in practice, I will say that," he added.
 
Three starters are currently averaging double figures: McBride (14.6 ppg.), Derek Culver (13.9 ppg.) and McNeil (11.1 ppg.).
 
Sophomore forward Oscar Tshiebwe is coming off a 12-point performance in the Richmond win to boost his season average to 8.9, while junior forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. is averaging 7.1 points per game.
 
Sherman is averaging 12.4 points per game off the bench.
 
Iowa State will be making its ninth appearance at the Coliseum where it has won only twice. WVU is currently enjoying a six-game winning streak against the Cyclones in Morgantown.
 
The game will tip off at 9 p.m. and will be televised nationally by ESPNU (Rich Hollenberg and Chris Spatola).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College radio coverage with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs will begin at 8 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com, TuneIn and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.
 
Briefly:

* Huggins said during his Thursday morning video conference with media that he is seeking more consistency from his outside shooters.
 
"I think we're going to have games where we really shoot it, and in (the Richmond game) Sean and Taz were both really making shots. I think there are going to be games when we have other guys," he explained.
 
"The whole battle is consistency, and I don't know what to do about that," he added. "We shoot it a lot in practice, and they come in on their own and shoot it a lot. There is no secret. Sean struggled early, and he's as good a shooter we've had here since Casey Mitchell. You've got to kind of work your way out of it."
 
* Freshman forward Isaiah Cottrell has probably been West Virginia's most consistent newcomer to begin the season. The Las Vegas resident has appeared in all seven games and is averaging 2.3 points and 6.4 minutes per game as the Mountaineers' fourth big coming off the bench.
 
"I think Isaiah gets better each time out," he said. "He's a talented guy, and he's a smart guy. He brings us something that our other guys don't have: he can make 3s and stretch the floor where the other three guys we are playing that's not their forte. When you bring something different to the table, then obviously you're probably going to get on the floor more."
 
Redshirt freshman forward Jalen Bridges is also getting early playing time, but he's still searching for his shooting stroke.
 
"I think he's played well. I don't think he's lacked in any other area - he's just not shooting the ball the way we're all accustomed to seeing him shoot the ball, but that will come," Huggins said. "Sean went through that. Taz went through it to a degree, and he'll come out of it."
 
* Huggins said not to sleep on Kansas State, despite its loss to Division II Fort Hays State. He sees lots of young talent on Bruce Weber's roster.
 
"Everybody was killing Kansas State because they lost to a D-II team, and I really like his young talent. I think they're good," he said. "They can make shots, and they really played hard."
 
* The coach was asked Thursday about the recent trend of teams using transfers. Iowa State currently has three former transfers in its starting five and Texas Tech has built a consistent Top 25 program on four-year transfers.
 
"It's the sign of the times," he said. "We've just passed immediately eligibility for transfers, and it's going to be a circus."
 
He likens what he believes could happen to college basketball to what happened to professional baseball with free agency in the 1970s.
 
"It wasn't watching the Pirates and Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente, the Alou boys and all that," he explained. "If free agency would have happened during that time who knows how many of those guys they would have lost?
 
"You kind of grow up cheering for a team and for certain people on the team and then all of a sudden they're gone - replaced by somebody from another team," he said.

Huggins believe the immediate transfer rule could lead to some unintended consequences for college basketball.
 
"I think it's horrible. I don't think it's good for the kids, and it's certainly not good for the fans and it's going to be rough on the schools, man. It's going to be a rough deal," he admitted.
 
* Huggins had more to say about the immediate transfer rule. He admits he hasn't considered all of its implications because he's been too concerned about this year's team, but he is sure it will affect his program at some point.
 
"I don't know until we get into it. I think we've got a heck of a bunch of guys and right now we need to concentrate on these guys," he said.
 
Name, image and likeness is another lingering danger to the sport, according to Huggins. Combined with the immediate transfer ruling, it could really put many programs at a disadvantage.
 
He explains.
 
"What if somebody comes in and says to one of our guys who is playing really well. 'Hey, how much are you getting on this name and likeness deal playing at West Virginia? Oh, we can get you three times that much here.' What are they going to do? The same thing you would do. They're going to leave," he said. "How do you stop that? Let's be honest. We're not in a metropolitan area with the wherewithal to make name and likeness big. We don't have that."
 
Depending upon how this turns out, Huggins believes name, image and likeness could be a major windfall for schools located in major metropolitan areas.
 
"I was at Cincinnati for years and if we would have had name and likeness there we could have got some stuff done at Cincinnati, now. It's a city. They've got a lot of things going on," he said. "We don't have that. Now with Mylan shutting down and to me, with a lot of downtown looking like it's not going to reopen, what do we have to offer in the name and likeness game?
 
"And it used to be we could go find guys," he continued. "We got Derek. Derek wasn't heavily recruited, and he's good now. We got Sean and he was not heavily recruited. How long do you keep them? Or can you keep them? I guess we're going to be looking at a lot of one-and-dones. 
 
"I guess I've got to go have a John Calipari seminar," he concluded.
 
These sobering issues Huggins brings up are things college basketball decision makers are going to have to think long and hard about, for sure.