Oklahoma stomped West Virginia Tuesday night, which you know. What you might not know is that at dusk for the first half of the Big 12 season and dawn of the daunting finish, the Mountaineers spotted a bitter benefit.

“I’d say it’s embarrassing, but at the time maybe it’s a good thing,” guard Gary Browne said after WVU allowed 61.4 percent shooting for the first time since Notre Dame hit the same number at home in February 2012. “We can come together and get hungry, because the only way we win games is by being hungry. Now is when we need to make a run. Now is when the teams we play are all really good.”

We’ve looked at this a little bit, so let’s talk about it some more now that the second half is here, beginning with Saturday’s noon ESPNU game game against Baylor, which is suddenly boat-racing good teams. The opposition’s rankings and RPI, the nature of the opponents and the coaching, matchups and defenses they present and the dates and places these games take place make this a really, really hard way to finish a season.