West Virginia @ Oklahoma State preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 9, 2019 ) West Virginia 77, Oklahoma State 85

No. 17 West Virginia let what would have been a confidence-building road victory slip away in its Big 12 season opener over the weekend and looks to rebound Monday night at Oklahoma State. The Mountaineers led by six through 20 minutes at third-ranked Kansas on Saturday before shooting 28 percent from the field in the second half (0-for-4 from 3-point range) in a 60-53 setback.

“I’d say we shot ourselves in the foot,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins told reporters after his club shot 32.2 percent overall and recorded a season-low in points. “We missed so many one-and two-footers and we missed step-in shots. We go 12-for-22 from the free throw line and that wasn’t because we had bad free throw shooters up there.” The Mountaineers are seventh in the Big 12 in field-goal percentage (42.9) and last in made 3-pointers with 71 as they attempt to snap a three-game losing streak against the Cowboys. Oklahoma State is coming off a worse performance in its conference opener as the Cowboys were routed at Texas Tech 85-50 on Saturday - their third largest margin of defeat in a Big 12 game ever - as they shot just 28.8 percent from the field overall. “We didn’t play with enough maturity to deal with not making shots consistently,” Oklahoma State Mike Boynton told reporters after the loss. “We made our lack of making shots affect other areas of the game. We don’t usually turn the ball over at a super high rate, but we did (Saturday).”

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (11-2, 0-1 Big 12): Freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe continued his strong play with 17 points and 17 boards in the loss to Kansas, making 6-of-10 from the field as the other four starters connected on just 6-of-24. “He’s really good at what he does,” Huggins told reporters of Tshiebwe. “You don’t have to worry about him going out and dribbling it between his legs and losing it, or jacking up 3s. Oscar knows who he is. … He’s pretty damn good at who he is.” Tshiebwe averages a team-high 12.2 points along with 9.4 points and sophomore center Derek Culver (10.5 points, team-high 9.6 rebounds) is also making a major impact.

ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE (9-4, 0-1): Senior guard Lindy Waters III, who leads the team in scoring (12.9)l, was the only Cowboy to reach double figures against Texas Tech and he connected on a season-high tying three 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Isaac Likekele (11.9 points, team highs of 4.6 assists, 2.3 steals) missed four games due to illness and the Cowboys lost three of them, but was part of his first defeat Saturday with just two points on 1-of-6 shooting. Senior forward Yor Anei adds 10.5 points and a team-best 2.3 blocks per contest while senior forward Cameron McGriff (9.6 points) tops the team in rebounds (6.8), but is 4-for-20 from the field the past three games..

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Waters needs seven points to become the 16th Oklahoma State player with 1,000 points, 200 assists and 100 steals in his career.

2. West Virginia freshman G Miles McBride leads the team in assists (2.5) and is averaging 14.8 points the last four games.

3. Oklahoma State freshman G Avery Anderson III is averaging 10 points the last three games after totaling eight in his previous five.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 76, Oklahoma State 74