Iowa State @ West Virginia preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 6, 2019 ) Iowa State 75, West Virginia 90

Despite a better than expected No. 11 ranking, Bob Huggins is getting desperate for some outside shooting. The West Virginia coach will look for some help for his talented bigs Wednesday when the Mountaineers host struggling Iowa State in search of a fifth straight Big 12 home victory.

West Virginia ranks 308th nationally in 3-point shooting despite relying on the shot for just 30 percent of its total shots - ranked 313th - and their percentage drops to 27.9 percent in league contests. The Mountaineers were 6-of-19 from deep and 21-of-50 overall from the floor for 42 percent in Saturday's 66-57 win over Kansas State as Derek Culver cleaned up inside for 19 points and 14 rebounds. "The big fella had a pretty good game," Huggins said afterwards. "The problem is you don't make a perimeter shot and now you've got to throw it to (Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe) to have any chance at all to win the game. We just keep chucking up perimeter shots that are just not going in and I tried everybody." Iowa State dropped a third straight game Saturday at Texas 72-68 after holding a five-point lead with 3:30 left.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT IOWA STATE (9-12, 2-6 Big 12): The Cyclones were led by Tyrese Haliburton (15.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists) and Rasir Bolton (15.2 points) with 14 points against Texas, while Solomon Young (8.9 points) chipped in 13 points off the bench. Freshman guard Tre Jackson (3.9 points, 34.5 percent 3-pointers) made his first career start in place of senior Prentiss Nixon (8.1 points, 23 percent 3-pointers) and finished with nine points, making all three of his 3-point attempts playing the first 39:42 of the game before fouling out. Young is averaging 13 points and has hit 17-of-21 free throws in the last four games.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (17-4, 5-3): Against Kansas State, Culver shot 8-of-15 from the floor and recorded his 15th double-double of his two-year career, but the other 11 guys who played combined to shoot 13-of-35. The Mountaineers defense was its usual stingy self, limiting the Wildcats to 36.7 percent shooting and holding Cartier Diarra, who burned them for a season-high 25 points in K-State's 16-point win out in Manhattan two weeks ago, to just eight points on 3-of-9 shooting. The win moved Huggins past Adolph Rupp into seventh place in all-time wins in NCAA history with 877 and he is now two shy of Dean Smith at No. 6 with 879.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Cyclones hold an 8-7 edge in the all-time series, but West Virginia leads 5-2 in games played in Morgantown.

2. With three league losses, West Virginia is within range of Baylor (7-0) and Kansas (6-1) in the Big 12 standings. The Mountaineers have one game left with Kansas and two with Baylor.

3. Haliburton has been named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation's top point guard. He has played 10 complete games this season, just two shy of the school record held by Barry Stevens.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 74, Iowa State 61