ISU hits the road to face physical Cats

AMES - Ready the ice packs.

Iowa State's Big 12 game at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Kansas State promises to play out according to the Wildcats' well-worn, rough-and-tumble script.

“It doesn't matter what building you play them in,” Cyclone coach Fred Hoiberg said. “If you're playing them out in the park they're going to be physical and hitting you, grabbing you and doing all the things that they do. They're great at it. They pressure as much as any team, really, in the nation.”

Plenty's at stake for both teams.

ISU (20-8, 10-5) came back from 14 points down to win the first meeting, 72-70, on Royce White's running baseline jumper with 1.8 seconds left.

The Cyclones seek another RPI-boosting win as they kick off a challenging regular season-closing stretch that continues Wednesday at third-ranked Missouri and next Saturday against No. 13 Baylor at home.

“It could potentially put us up there going into the tournament and give us a certain confidence about ourselves; letting us know that not only can we play with any team in the nation, but we can beat them,” said White, who who notched 22 points, grabbed eight rebounds and recorded four assists and three blocked shots in the first meeting. “But we can also lose these games - they're very losable games, too, and that's not what we want to do.”

The Wildcats (19-8, 8-7) hope to augment the momentum gleaned from impressive, back-to-back road wins against the same highly-ranked teams the Cyclones will face in the coming days.

They've also dropped three conference games at Bramlage Coliseum, which irks Coach Frank Martin.

“If you want to be a good team, you cannot give up games at home and we cannot lose anymore,” Martin told reporters Thursday. “Iowa State is a problem.”

So push will come to shove.

Scrappy could easily morph into chippy.

Advantage Wildcats?

Maybe, maybe not.

“We've learned that we're pretty tough, too,” White said. “Kansas State has a mentality of being tough. When we understand who we're playing, we can match that game plan.”

Hoiberg said ISU must shine Saturday in transition defense and rebounding.

The Wildcats grabbed 12 offensive rebounds to the Cyclones' seven in the first meeting.

“You've got to go in there with the right mindset,” Hoiberg said. “And you can't get frustrated if you have a bad stretch.”

Ice packs.

Toughness.

Big-time games with NCAA Tournament implications.

“I'm always up for that challenge,” said ISU guard Chris Allen, who's drained 18 3-pointers in the past five games. “Any time a challenge comes around it makes me feel like I need to take my play up.”