No. 10 West Virginia hosts Kansas State with much on the line

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Whether or not it was by design, both Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil were quick to lay out the company line during interviews Friday.

“There are no easy games in the Big 12,” McNeil said.

“On any given night, anyone can be beat you in the Big 12,” added Sherman.

Maybe that was never more evident than last Tuesday, when Kansas State upset No. 7 Oklahoma with a 62-57 victory.

Or maybe it was last-place Iowa State nearly pulling off another shocker against No. 2 Baylor, before the Bears finally took control in the final two minutes.

Or maybe it was No. 14 Texas coming back after trailing No. 17 Kansas by 11 at halftime to win in overtime to secure its first regular-season sweep of the Jayhawks … ever.

“At this point, nothing catches me off guard anymore,” Sherman said. “You see a lot of upsets. You see a lot of top 10 teams losing.”

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It’s now up to 10th-ranked West Virginia (16-6, 9-4 Big 12) to not become the latest upset victim of Kansas State, which enters Saturday’s 4 p.m. game at the Coliseum on a two-game winning streak.

“We can’t take them lightly,” Sherman continued. “This is a Power Five Conference. This is a big game. Every game we play from here on is a big game, so we have to attack them all with that mind set.”

The Mountaineers enter the game with so much on the line, including an outside shot of winning the Big 12, but also in maintaining a No. 2 seed for the Big 12 Tournament and a high seed in the NCAA Tournament in the weeks to come.

WVU’s potential seed for the NCAA’s is a hot topic among the players.

“We talk about it all the time,” Sherman said. “We were watching the Iowa (vs. Michigan) game, and in our group chat, Emmitt (Matthews Jr.) texted, ‘A lot of top 10 teams are losing, so this is our chance to be a No. 1 seed.’ We talk about that stuff all the time. We want to be as highly-ranked as possible.”

WVU knocked off K-State (7-18, 3-13), 69-47, in what was the Mountaineers’ first game in coming back from a COVID-19 pause on Jan. 23.

The Wildcats had won only one Big 12 game at that point and were without freshman point guard Nijel Pack, who had nine points and nine assists in that upset against Oklahoma.

Kansas State also beat TCU last Saturday to kickoff its two-game win steak.

“He can make shots. He is a shot maker,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said of Pack. “He can shoot it off the bounce. He can shoot it off the catch. He’s good from mid-range. He’s good at driving it at the basket and stopping before he gets swallowed up by size and gets the ball up over the top of people. He’s a really good looking freshman. I really like the kid.”

The Mountaineers will conclude the regular season with three home games next week — against Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State — before heading to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament.

How high can WVU climb? That’s the major question in front of the Mountaineers heading down the stretch.

“That’s why people love this time of year so much. In February and March, anybody can beat anybody,” McNeil said. “It’s an exciting time of year, for me in particular. My favorite time of year is tournament time, and I can say the same for this group of guys here.

“We’re all excited, especially with what’s happening in the league right now with us moving up to second. We’ve got four games at home, so we’re all excited.”

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