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MORGANTOWN -- Ask Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton about No. 19 West Virginia's recent up and down season and the former Mountaineers assistant will give you a simple answer.
"I see a really good team that is capable of making a really deep run in March," Boynton said during Thursday's Big 12 Teleconference. "Every single team in America goes through stretches where they don't play well and people overreact.
"That's what happened to them and now they are playing well."
WVU (18-6 overall, 7-4 Big 12) will look to make it three wins in a row when it plays host to the Cowboys (14-10, 4-7) at noon on ESPN.
The Mountaineers are coming off an impressive 75-73 win at No. 17 Oklahoma while OSU stumbled Tuesday with a 67-56 home loss to Baylor.
Sophomore Lamont West broke out of a recent shooting slump, scoring a team-high 17 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the arc and 2 of 3 from the free-throw line. Fellow sophomore Sagaba Konate chipped in a double double (14 points, 11 rebounds) while junior Esa Ahmad added 14 points and senior Jevon Carter contributed 10 points, eight assists and six steals.
The Cowboys make their only visit to the Coliseum having lost four of their last five games with an 84-79 win at Kansas representing that lone win.
"That just proves what I've been saying all season long," WVU coach Bob Huggins said. "There is not a team in this league that you can afford to take a night off when you play them."
Saturday's encounter will be the second meeting between the two teams with the Mountaineers increasing their edge in the series to 7-5 with an 85-79 victory at Gallagher-Iba Arena on Dec. 29, 2017. Freshman Teddy Allen came off the bench to lead the Mountaineers to victory with 15 points while the Cowboys received 17 points each from Tavarius Shine and Jeffrey Carroll.
"We didn't play extremely well in that game," Huggins said. "We did make plays when we needed to make plays, but it was a struggle. Especially in the first half."
Shine will not be in the starting lineup when the Pokes attempt to pick up their fourth win in six tries in the Coliseum. Instead senior Mitchell Solomon (8.1 ppg) and sophomore Cameron McGriff (7.6) will man the forward positions.
Rounding out the starting five for Boynton, who is in his first season as head coach, will be seniors Kendall Smith (11.6) and Carroll (15.5) and sophomore Lindy Waters (8.6) at the guards.
Huggins will counter with a lineup that will feature Carter (16.6) and sophomore James 'Beetle' Bolden (9.8) at the guards with Ahmad (10.9), Konate (10.7) and sophomore Wesley Harris (6.0) at the forwards.
This will mark Bolden's third straight start in place of senior Daxter Miles Jr. (12.1), who has been relegated to coming off the bench after a combination of poor play and a bout with flu-like symptoms forced Huggins to alter his starting lineup.
"We've won a lot of games with Dax doing what he does," Huggins said. "So, I wouldn't say that he won't be back in the starting lineup at some time."
West (10.8), Allen (7.8) and sophomore Logan Routt (1.3) round out the players who saw action against KSU.
"I'd like to play more," Huggins said. "I tell the guys all the time, 'I don't determine how much you play, you do.'"