Who Snaps Their Losing Skid? Matchup Predictor Reveals Pick for WVU vs Oklahoma State

It's the final game of the road trip for West Virginia and the penultimate road game of the season for Ross Hodge's squad. They'll play their final road contest next week in Manhattan against Kansas State after Saturday's challenge against BYU.

Tonight, they aim to get back on track against Oklahoma State, which is really going through it coming into this one. Can they get the job done?

What the BPI says

According to the ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI), West Virginia has a 55.3% chance of snapping its two-game slide and moving back above .500 in Big 12 play. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State has a 44.7% chance of putting an end to its five-game losing streak.

It's difficult to get a good read on this game, so it's not all that surprising to see the percentages so close, but maybe a tad bit that WVU is the team with the slight edge. The offense has been abysmal, and it's been especially worse on the road. If anything, a 50/50 toss-up is probably the most appropriate way to look at this one.

West Virginia's recent games

The Mountaineers had a dud of a week, beginning with a flat performance against last-place Utah, which resulted in leaving the stain of a Quad 3 loss on the resume. It took WVU roughly 30 minutes to finally wake up and play with some urgency, but it was too little too late, mixed in with some late miscues. On Saturday, they led for more than 18 minutes of game time and were up as many as nine early on in the first half. The offense just dried up late in the second half, and they constantly put TCU on the free-throw line. The Horned Frogs finished the game 18/27 at the charity stripe. This is a massive one for WVU.

Oklahoma State's recent games

The Cowboys are going to have to get red-hot, and I mean scorching red-hot, if they want to make the NCAA Tournament. Not only have they dropped four straight, but they've also been on the wrong side of the scoreboard in eight of their last eleven. In this current five-game skid, the Pokes have fallen to a pair of top-10 teams in Arizona and Kansas while also dropping to Arizona State, an overtime game, and a 14-point defeat to Colorado. They've scored 69 points in each of the last two, shooting 23.5% from downtown and sub 40% from the floor. If that continues, this will play right into the type of game West Virginia wants.