PREVIEW: West Virginia Hosts a Depleted Kansas State Team

The Mountaineers welcome the Kansas State Wildcats for the Big 12 home opener

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (11-2, 0-1) welcome in the Kansas State Wildcats (8-5, 0-2) Saturday at 2:00 pm inside the WVU Coliseum, and the game will be streaming on ESPN+.

The Kansas State Wildcats suffered a two-point Big 12 Conference road-opening loss to an Oklahoma squad fighting its way into the top 25 before several members of the team and staff were put under the league's COVID-19 health and safety protocols, leaving Kansas State just seven scholarship players, along with walk-on guard Drew Honas available in the loss 70-57 loss to Texas on Tuesday night. The Wildcats were also without head coach Bruce Weber and assistants Jermaine Henderson and Chris Lowery were home under protocols, leaving assistant coach Shane Southwell to pace the sideline.

On Friday, Weber disclosed he will not make the trip to Morgantown after again testing positive Friday morning, and Southwell has now entered the protocols, but Henderson is able to return and will take over the helm, and will return the team's second-leading scorer, guard Markquis Nowell (12.8 ppg) to the lineup, but an undisclosed player tested positive on Friday.

The Big 12 recently adopted a new policy in the wake of rising COVID-19 numbers that a "no contest" will be issued if a team has less than six scholarship players and one countable coach available for a game.

"We have stayed around that number where, according to Big 12 rules, we have enough coaches and players to play," said Weber. "I don't think it's right. I think it's unfair. I have expressed that to the league office. I did that last year. I did it this year to our administration. But those are the rules, and you have got to play by the rules."

Weber confirmed the starting forward Kaosi Ezeagu is out along with forwards David Bradford and Logan Landers, leaving little presence in the frontcourt for the Wildcats.

Dec 19, 2021; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Kansas State Wildcats guard Nijel Pack (24) shoots against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena / Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

The team is led by a slew of guards, starting with leading scorer, sophomore Nijel Pack (15.6 ppg). He had a season-high 21-points against Texas on 50% (6-12) shooting from the field, marking his fourth career 20-point performance.

Nowell spent his first three seasons at Little Rock before transferring to K-State prior to the season. He led the team in scoring last year, averaging 14.4 points per game in 15 games but opted out before the season's end.

Senior Missouri graduate transfer guard Mark Smith is nearly averaging a double double, notching five on the season, with a team-leading 8.5 rebounds per game and 10.3 ppg, including recording career-highs with 25 points and 16 rebounds in the loss to Oklahoma.

"He's got more shot-makers that I can remember, being at K-State, in a while," said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. "I mean, he's got a lot of guys who can make shots. He's got guys that can make hard shots. I really like his team. He's done a terrific job of putting that team together."

Feb 1, 2020; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Sean McNeil (22) shoots a three-pointer over Kansas State Wildcats guard David Sloan (4) during the second half at WVU Coliseum / Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

West Virginia was hit with the league's protocols in its Big 12 opener, facing Texas without the conference's leading scorer, guard Taz Sherman (20.9 ppg), forward Gabe Osabuohien and guard Kobe Johnson, falling to the Longhorns 74-59 last Saturday. The team has not played since after TCU had to postpone several games, including against WVU that was scheduled for Tuesday. However, on Friday, Huggins said the trio is set to return against Kansas State.

Forward Jalen Bridges tied a season-high and led the team in scoring against Texas with 18 points, marking the first time the redshirt sophomore hit double figures in eight games. Some of the production may have been due to Sherman being out, but Huggins is hopeful he'll continue to see the same aggressiveness moving forward with senior guards Sean McNeil and Taz Sherman.

"I hope he kind of came out of his shell, so to speak. Those guys were as much encouraging JB to shoot the ball early on in the year as I was. They want him to score the ball," said Huggins. Taz and Sean both know we're going to be a much better team when we have all three of those guys making shots and being aggressive offensively."

West Virginia is 13-8 all-time versus Kansas State, including winning the last three meetings. 

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