Iowa State men's basketball returns to AP top 25 after long hiatus

AMES - Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg doesn't dwell on milestones.

His general take: Win enough games and they're met as a matter of course.

Nonetheless, Hoiberg's Cyclones raised their national profile again Monday afternoon when they surfaced at No. 25 in the Associated Press men's basketball poll.

That ended a more than six-year absence from the rankings.

ISU last appeared in late November 2005, before dropping a preseason tournament game to Iona.

"We've been flirting around with that," Hoiberg said in Monday's news conference when asked about the possibility of being ranked. "I don't think it means anything. I think the big thing is we need to continue to go out and try to play very solid basketball, sound basketball."

ISU earned the No. 3 seed in this week's Big 12 Conference tournament.

The Cyclones (22-9, 12-6) play sixth-seeded and bubble-dwelling Texas (19-12, 9-9) at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.

ISU split with the Longhorns in the regular season, with each team winning at home.

"We've got to do a good job of coming out with a lot of urgency," Hoiberg said. "It's an important game for Texas. We've just got to go out and play our game and hopefully play with confidence."