West Virginia @ Kansas State preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 10, 2017 ) Kansas State 50, West Virginia 51

Seventh-ranked West Virginia had to work hard to win its Big 12 season opener last time out and looks to make it two straight on the road Monday against Kansas State as the 2018 portion of the schedule begins. The Mountaineers trailed by seven at halftime and their leading scorer had a poor shooting night, but they rallied for an 85-79 victory over Oklahoma State on Friday.

“This is us, this is what we do,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins told reporters after his team forced 21 turnovers and coughed it up 18 times. “We don’t shoot it as well as other people. We don’t pass it well a lot of times, but we grind and we rebound and we come up with loose balls.” Senior guard Jevon Carter had 12 points - more than five below his team-best average - on 2-of-10 from the field while turning the ball over eight times for the Mountaineers and will need a rebound performance against Kansas State, which opened the conference season with a 91-75 win at Iowa State on Friday. Junior forward Dean Wade broke out with a career-high 34 points in the win for the Wildcats, who lost by just two to No. 4 Arizona State in November. “If you’re going to win road games in the Big 12, you have to have somebody step up and be special,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said of Wade. “He was huge. He shot it with confidence, played with confidence and wanted the ball.”

TV: 5 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (12-1, 1-0 Big 12): Carter, who averages 17.7 points, contributed with seven assists and five steals in the win at Oklahoma State - well over his team-best marks in both categories. “This is a hard, hard league,” Huggins told reporters. “(Carter) didn’t play well, but the first thing he says when he goes in the locker room is, “I didn’t play well, I’m sorry, but we won and I’m happy.’ That’s rhetoric for some people. He means it.” Senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. (14.6 points) is 12-for-17 from the field the last two games and sophomore forward Lamont West (12.1) scored 14.8 per contest in the last five games.

ABOUT KANSAS STATE (11-2, 1-0): Wade averages 14.8 points along with a team-high 6.5 rebounds and scored just nine in the previous game before draining 6-of-8 from 3-point range Friday. “I honestly didn’t feel like I was doing anything crazy, like 34,” Wade told reporters. “I was just focused on the next play, rebounding basically, because that was a big emphasis at halftime.” Junior guard Barry Brown Jr. leads the balanced offense (14.9) after averaging 22 in the last two games and junior guard Kamau Stokes, who scored 23 in the win over Iowa State, chips in with 14.8 points and a team-best 4.8 assists per game.

TIP-INS

1. Wade, Stokes and Brown became the first trio of 20-point scorers in a game for Kansas State since the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

2. Carter, the program’s all-time leader in steals (267), needs four assists to become the 10th West Virginia player with 400 in his career.

3. The Wildcats lost to the Mountaineers 51-50 in the Big 12 semifinals last March and each team won once on their home court in the regular season.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 78, Kansas State 72