West Virginia @ Oklahoma State preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 4, 2017 ) Oklahoma State 82, West Virginia 75

Rebounding from a season-opening loss to Texas A&M with 11 consecutive non-conference victories would make most head coaches happy - but West Virginia's Bob Huggins wants to see more as his 10th-ranked Mountaineers kick off Big 12 play Friday night against host Oklahoma State. West Virginia cruised past Fordham last time out, but looked sloppy in the process - and that left Huggins far from impressed.

"We played bad and scored 86," Huggins said following the Mountaineers' 17-point triumph over the Rams. "That's not a bad deal when you play really bad and score 86, and we played bad. Played bad, shot it bad, passed it bad. "(We've) got to turn it up (for Big 12 play). (It's) different level competition and guys need to be ready to play." Perhaps it's just a motivating tactic for a coach who watched his team post the seventh-best average scoring margin in the nation (plus-21.4) in an incredible non-conference performance. But things get a lot tougher Friday, with Oklahoma State coming off its own impressive non-conference showing. The Cowboys rolled to 10 wins in their first 12 games, with their only losses coming to nationally ranked Texas A&M and Wichita State.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (11-1): Some people might think that Huggins is being unnecessarily harsh on a team that steamrolled through the competition, winning six of its 11 games by at least 29 points - but Huggins knows what the upcoming schedule holds, and it isn't pretty. Following road games at Oklahoma State and Kansas State, the Mountaineers will play six of their next seven contests against teams presently ranked in the Top 25 - and they'll have five more matchups with current ranked opposition the rest of the way. Huggins, who tied Jim Phelan for seventh all-time in Division I coaching wins with his 830th against Fordham, will look to lead West Virginia to its third ever Final Four appearance; it fell 61-58 to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 a season ago.

ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE (10-2): The Cowboys enter conference play looking to atone for last year's first-round NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of Michigan - but if they hope to return to March Madness, they'll need to fix their long-range shooting struggles. Oklahoma State enters Friday ranked second last in the conference in 3-point success rate at 33.0 percent, down considerably from the 40.1 percent rate it posted a season earlier. On the plus side, the Cowboys rank third in the nation in free-throw shooting at 80.5 percent; guard Jeffrey Carroll sits ninth in the conference at 80.6 percent, while the team's top eight scorers all sit above 75 percent through 12 games.

TIP-INS

1. West Virginia pulls down 15.4 offensive rebounds per game, third-most in the country.

2. Oklahoma ranks inside the top 30 nationally in turnovers forced per game (17.0).

3. The road team has won the previous three games in the head-to-head series.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 86, Oklahoma State 76