From watching, and from having been there last year, which, sure, might have been an anomaly, Texas doesn’t really have much of a home court advantage.

The Longhorns are sixth in the Big 12 in attendance and about 2,000 fans better per game than WVU. You’re more likely to see some snarky “Erwin Center minutes before the tip” photo on Twitter than you are a sellout. Yet Texas is rolling with eight wins in its last nine games, including a relatively effortless win in the Coliseum last month. The Longhorns have also won 13 of 15 at home this season and five in a row — the losses are to Michigan State and Oklahoma, so, that’s not bad.

More to the point, though, is that Texas is a good squad, good enough to be second in the standings despite being something of an oddity. The Longhorns aren’t in the top half of any of the most important offensive statistics and are at or near the bottom of some of the others that would seem indicative of a team’s success in the Big 12.

Yet Texas reigns atop the defensive rankings (No. 1 in field-goal percentage defense, rebounding and blocked shots, No. 2 in rebounding margin).

The Mountaineers haven’t seen a team like this since they last met Texas, unless you want to count Kansas, which I don’t. Texas has embraced its defensive identity. Kansas knows it has other gears. Anyhow, the last time WVU met Texas was the last time, and maybe the only time, WVU was not composed and seemed to be affected by something that was out of its control.

That home loss to Oklahoma State two days earlier lingered and the Mountaineers played like a wounded bunch … and complicated things by missing a ton of shots. A literal ton. But handling success, certainly better than how they handled that loss to the Cowboys, is critical for the Mountaineers now because they are so close to where they want to be, yet have not arrived.

WVU (15-10, 7-5 Big 12) is in the conversation and can turn up the volume with a win Saturday at No. 19 Texas (19-5, 8-3) at the Erwin Center. The Longhorns have won eight of nine games and are 13-2 at home with five straight wins.

After losing at Oklahoma State Jan. 25, the Mountaineers have won four of five and two of three against ranked opponents after going more than two years without beating a top-25 team.

“That was supposed to be the start of a tough six-game stretch with Baylor (Jan. 28),” forward Kevin Noreen said. “We got some tough wins that we had to grind out, but we really figured this would be the point in the season we really needed to focus on. Hopefully, it can serve as a springboard the rest of the year.

We have six games left in the regular season and one more game in the Big 12 tournament. We know every game is important to keep our RPI up and to get NCAA Tournament eligible.”

P.S. I hate you guys
– WU