West Virginia coach Ross Hodge reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Texas Tech, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/Kathleen Batten)

MORGANTOWN — It may be somewhat uncanny how much the West Virginia men’s basketball team is a near-mirror image of Oklahoma State.

For 14 years now, the Mountaineers have been a member of the Big 12. They’ve battled it out 26 times with Oklahoma State, with both teams winning 13 times. They meet at 7 p.m. today, inside Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., where the Cowboys have won three in a row against WVU.

It’s even got to the point where the schools’ head coaches sound alike.

“We never made it a game early. I thought we made it a game in the second half, obviously, we took the lead, and then we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit.”

That was Oklahoma State head coach Steve Lutz following the Cowboys’ 83-69 loss on Saturday on the road against Colorado.

It could just have easily been WVU head coach Ross Hodge, who has spent the majority of Big 12 play watching the Mountaineers (16-11, 7-7 Big 12) fall behind early and getting off to a slow start, only to storm back in the second half to either pull off a comeback or, at the very least, make the game interesting.

“To continue to put yourselves in these holes, it’s to be commended that we continuously fight back and give ourselves chances in this game,” Hodge said last week after WVU lost to Utah. “When you dig yourself those types of holes, so many things have to go right. In the games we were able to do that, we were able to get over the hump with a big shot. Tonight, we weren’t able to do that.”

Both programs find themselves trying to escape from that “rebuilding mode” terminology and return to the top part of the Big 12’s higher echelon. Lutz is just in his second season, a former mid-major head coach making his first leap into a Power Five Conference job.

Sound familiar? It’s the same situation Hodge faces this season with the Mountaineers; the same situation former head coach Darian DeVries faced at WVU last season, too.

And at this point, both teams simply need some type of positive vibe.

The Cowboys (16-11, 4-10) were riding high in nonconference play, winning 12 of their first 13 games. A rugged Big 12 brought them down to reality. Oklahoma State enters the game on a five-game losing streak. The Cowboys have lost those five games by an average of 15 points per game.

“We certainly had some costly turnovers when it was a period where you get a chance to maybe go up two or three or four, and we just shot ourselves in the foot, unfortunately,” Lutz said. “But it’s part of basketball, and we’ve got to get our heads up and figure out a way to beat West Virginia on Tuesday.”

The Mountaineers are trying desperately to remain in the bubble conversation for this year’s NCAA tournament, but that boat is likely taking on too much water at the moment, as WVU enters the matchup on a two-game skid and losers of three of their last four games.

“I told our team the good thing about being in the Big 12 is you’re going to get quality opportunities,” Hodge said. “We had one (against TCU) and didn’t take advantage of it. More opportunities are within our reach, but you have to take advantage of those opportunities.

“Tuesday night in Stillwater will be another opportunity. We have a home game with BYU on Saturday. You have opportunities, but you have to start taking advantage of them, because eventually those opportunities can run out.”

The opportunity awaiting WVU is the chance to get its offense going again, while facing the Big 12’s worst defense. The Mountaineers have been held to less than 70 points in seven of their last eight games.

They’ve shot a combined 24% (42 of 175) from 3-point range and never better than 43.8% from the floor during that stretch.

On the flip side, Oklahoma State is allowing just under 83 points per game and opponents are shooting 45% from the field.

Whether or not WVU can take advantage of those numbers remains to be seen, because the Mountaineers have yet to get off on the right foot early in games. Hodge hinted at some possible lineup changes following last week’s loss against Utah, but went his usual starting five on Saturday against TCU.

“The underlying factors have to be addressed,” Hodge said. “You can’t continuously put yourself in those situations and think you’re always going to be able to come back.”