MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will be entering the cougar's den on Wednesday night when it faces 10^th-ranked Houston at the Fertitta Center.
 
The Cougars (12-3 overall and 4-0 in Big 12 play) currently have the nation's longest home-court winning streak at 31 straight games, and they are coming off a dominant, 87-57 performance at Kansas State last Saturday. It might be Houston's best all-around effort of the season.
 
It was also Houston's eighth straight victory since suffering a 73-70 overtime loss to San Diego in the consolation round of the Players Era Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 30.
 
The Cougars' other two defeats were to now-top-ranked Auburn, 74-69, at the Toyota Center in Houston on Nov. 9, and against now-fourth-ranked Alabama, 85-80 in overtime, in Las Vegas.
 
Houston's eight consecutive wins include conference triumphs against Oklahoma State, BYU, TCU and Kansas State heading into Wednesday night.
 
Once again, in-your-face defense is Houston's calling card under veteran coach Kelvin Sampson with the Cougars allowing only 54.2 points per game with opponents shooting just 34.7% from the floor.
 
Offensively, the 3-point shooting of guards L.J. Cryer and Emmanuel Sharp ranks among the best in the nation. Sharp is connecting at a 48.8% clip from behind the arc, while Cryer is shooting 41%. Both have made 41 3s each, among the best in the Big 12, and are averaging an identical 14.1 points per game.
 
The rest of Houston's starting five consists of 6-foot-4 guard Milos Uzan, 6-foot-8 forward J'Wan Roberts and 6-foot-8 forward Joseph Tugler. Roberts is averaging 8.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while Uzan shows averages of 8.9 points and 3.2 boards per contest.
 
Terrance Arceneauz, a 6-foot-6 sophomore guard, gives Houston some scoring pop off the bench, averaging 9.1 points per game, third-best on the team.
 
Additional size comes from 6-foot-8 senior forward Ja'Vier Francis and 6-foot-9 sophomore Cedric Lath.
 
It was Sharp who led a balanced Houston scoring attack with 15 points in Saturday's 30-point victory at Kansas State. Tugler chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds, Cryer and Francis scored 11 each, while Roberts added 10.
 
Houston outscored Kansas State 52 to 18 in the paint, 30 to 12 off the bench and 21 to 7 in fast-break points. The Cougars also had a 20 to 1 advantage in second-chance points, which means West Virginia is going to have to figure out a way to keep them off the glass.
 
Houston outrebounds its opponents by more than seven boards per game while grabbing 13.1 offensive rebounds per contest. By comparison, West Virginia has allowed 10 more rebounds than it has grabbed in 15 games so far this season.
 
Houston will have to contend with West Virginia's Javon Small, the Big 12's leading scorer at 19.8 points per game. Small tallied a game-high 26 points in the Mountaineers' 78-70 win at Colorado on Sunday to help them improve to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in Big 12 play.
 
Sampson was asked about Small during his weekly zoom call with Houston media earlier this week.
 
"Talent, talent, talent …" he said. "Swagger; (Small) can play left or right off the drive and shoot step-back 3s. Their team has a great swagger to them, and I think they get it from Javon. He's just one of the best guards in the country."
 
Sampson continued.
 
"He scores at all three levels. He's a great finisher. He's a 3-point shooter, and he scores in the paint," he noted. "We haven't seen all the games, but watching Colorado, and that's a good team, an extremely well-coached team, and I just really love the way Javon plays."
 
Guard Joseph Yesufu came off the bench to contribute a season-high 18 points against Colorado, while Eduardo Andre added 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. It was Andre's 15 points, six rebounds and four steals that helped West Virginia to its historic 62-61 win at Kansas to snap the Mountaineers' 11-game losing streak at Allen Fieldhouse.
 
A similar effort might be required on Wednesday night by those and others to pull off another consequential road upset at Houston.
 
Last year, the Cougars completely dominated West Virginia in an 89-55 victory at the Fertitta Center. That was the Mountaineers' only other visit there.
 
West Virginia dropped out of this week's Associated Press Top 25 but remains in the coaches' poll at No. 25.
 
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN+ (James Westling and Reid Gettys).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Brad Howe and David Kahn tips things off at 7 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
 
WVU returns to the Coliseum this Saturday to face second-ranked Iowa State in a game that will honor the memory and lasting legacy of Mountaineer legend Jerry West, who died on June 12, 2024, in Los Angeles.
 
The Iowa State game has already been announced a sellout.