This is the time of the season when the networks try to foster and to present the college game’s best rivalries, and they will do so before Sunday with the likes of Kansas-Kansas State, Michigan-Ohio State, Syracuse-Pittsburgh, Duke-UNC, Arizona-Arizona State, Florida-Kentucky, so on and so forth.

Included in the mix? Tonight’s ESPNU feature putting the bitterly bounded Iowa State and West Virginia.

Yes!

They are your Thanksgiving weekend combatants in football, where there used to stand something called the Backyard Brawl, and they played two entertaining basketball games last season. It is what it is, and tonight ought to be entertaining.

There aren’t many teams that do offense better than Iowa State. In summary:

* No. 1 in in the Big 12, No. 4 in the country in scoring offense (85 points per game)
* No. 1 in the nation in assists (18.7 per game, including 27 on 32 baskets Saturday)
* No. 2 in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (1.76)
* Shooting 56.2 percent from 2-point range and 35 percent from 3-point range

Those are the team highlights. The individual accolades?

* One of two teams with three players averaging 16 points per game
* Five players have at least one 20-point game
* Five players have won Big 12 player of the week at least once
* You know about Melvin Ejim, his 48 points and his Big 12-best 19.8 points per game. He’s also third in the league in rebounding (8.6) after leading the conference last season.
* Dustin Hogue is second (8.7) and averages 10.9 points.
* DeAndre Kane is a Wooden Award midseason candidate and averages 16.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists. No one else in the nation averages 16-6-6.
* Monte Morris, new to the starting lineup, is the one leading the Big 12 in assist-turnover ratio (absurd 4.8).
* Georges Niang might be their go-to guy. The Cyclones play, and are prone to, tight games. Niang shoots 56.3 percent in the final five minutes of games.

So, sure, Iowa State will give the Mountaineers trouble if they are hitting shots. And Fred Hoiberg is going to grease board some open shots. The concern is one player or multiple players getting hot and making a run — and when you guard like WVU does on the perimeter, that concern is amplified. Iowa State doesn’t have a true post presence. Niang can be a handful. Ejim will occasionally assert himself down there, too. Mostly, the Cyclones are happy, and effective, when they’re playing open and moving, passing and gunning.

WVU will counter by mirroring things. They’re going to attack and play fast. The first eight minutes tonight ought to be uncompromising and entertaining. But what of the final 32? Iowa State’s defense and rebounding are not what one would call stout. They can give up points and runs, too.

How the team on the bad side of the run handles itself is going to be decisive here. And wouldn’t you know it, Iowa State actually weathered TCU’s push in the second half by following Ejim for 20 consecutive points. The Mountaineers at least witnessed their own errors in letting Kansas off the leash when it mattered most.

“I think what it is, is we’ve got to play more patient on offense so we can have the ball more and have more control of the game,” Harris said. “On top of playing better defense, we’ve got to manage the game better on offense.

“We come out and play fast and we come out and attack, but at a certain point you have to have a game plan and there comes a time when the game plan calls for managing the game, which means slowing down a little bit.”

Time to speed it up here …