The Big 12/SEC Challenge has certainly lived up to its name when it comes to West Virginia.

That’s because if anything the six-year competition has truly been a challenge for the Mountaineers.

Each of the Big 12 teams have recorded at least three wins with Bob Huggins club being the lone exception. In six years, the program has recorded only one win in the event.

When you consider that the SEC has eight teams with at least two wins and six of those have not even participated every year it puts things into perspective of the struggles for the program.

The Mountaineers lone win came in 2016 over Texas A&M while dropping games to Missouri, LSU, Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee, many of those largely noncompetitive.

It’s impossible to pinpoint a single reason for the struggles considering during that time frame the Mountaineers have gone to the NCAA Tournament four-times during that span and advanced to the Sweet 16 in three of those campaigns. The program also has wins over 26 ranked teams.

Still while largely the product of coincidence, the program would like to shift its fortunes in the annual non-conference showdown which is currently 4-1-1 overall in favor of the Big 12.

The conferences have made the most of the event playing up the meeting of out-of-conference foes deep in the heart of the conference schedule in a made for television event.

And for that reason alone, the Mountaineers would like to put their best foot forward while not only carrying the conference’s banner on their backs but their own as well.

West Virginia’s opponent this season will be the first repeat for the Mountaineers with the program set to square off against Missouri for the second time. The only difference being that this game will be played in Morgantown. It will be the fourth game that the program has hosted in the challenge with the previous record 1-2 in those instances although both of those games were lost in the waning moments.

"To make sure we get as many power five games as the rest of the leagues do we have to do it," head coach Bob Huggins said.

The Mountaineers are well on its way to rebounding after an historically bad season in 2018 finishing at 15-21. The program currently sits at No. 7 in the NET rankings and is being seeded as a high choice in the NCAA Tournament with a suffocating brand of defense and an offense that continues to develop.

The Tigers on the other hand are 9-9 in year three under Cuonzo Martin and have a nice mixture of young, but experienced players and newcomers.

"They do a good job controlling the game with their offense. They're really patient and they get good shots," Huggins said.

After dropping back-to-back games in the challenge, the Mountaineers are hoping to reverse their fortunes long term but that starts with one win at a time.

That will indeed be the challenge this weekend.

WATCH: Musings from the Mountains | A'varius Sparrow Commitment Reaction and Missouri Preview | Episode 60

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