Iowa State’s road trip to Oklahoma State kick starts important two weeks

AMES - These next four games, which span two weeks, could have the Iowa State men's basketball team trending in two very different directions.

If the Cyclones go 3-1 or split any of the next four games - at Oklahoma State, at TCU, No. 2 Kansas and at Oklahoma - they're set up well to take on an unrelenting conference schedule. Lose more than two, and they could be sweating the rest of the year.

'Had we got that one at Baylor we would have been rolling; we didn't,” said guard Naz Mitrou-Long. 'Getting a big one at home versus Texas was huge for this stretch that we have ahead of us.

'Two road games, any road game in conference is as big as any game. It's a big stretch and we really want to focus on it.”

A road trip to Oklahoma State on Wednesday (8 p.m. on ESPNU) is first on the docket. It's a Big 12 game that has favored the Cyclones (10-4, 2-1) the last three years.

The Cowboys (10-5, 0-3) held serve at home in the series for 25 years before Iowa State rattled off wins at Gallagher-Iba Arena the last three seasons. The 2013 game went to triple overtime when Mitrou-Long and point guard Monte Morris connected on timely 3-pointers to secure the win - the last two were both five-point wins.

'We just made shots and made plays,” Morris said. 'That gym is kind of framed like my high school gym a little bit so I feel at home a little bit in there. It's so tight and small. The guys are just ready to play and hopefully I can go 4-0 (in my career in Stillwater).”

This OSU team has recreated its identity with new coach Brad Underwood. The Cowboys have the KenPom No. 14 adjusted offense and are No. 24 in tempo. They have a three-headed monster with Jawun Evans, Jeffrey Carroll and Phil Forte, who are averaging 18.9, 16.1 and 13.4 points, respectively.

'(Evans is) a great, great athlete, really good with the basketball, really good in transition,” Iowa State Coach Steve Prohm said. 'We've got to do a good job in our ball-screen defense against him.

'We've got to keep him out of the paint. We've got to contest shots. You have to get back in transition, (defend) him going end-to-end. He's really good. We can't be on our heels against him.”

In Prohm's second season in Ames, the Cyclones have undergone as much of a transformation as Oklahoma State. They are the No. 18 KenPom adjusted defense - with the No. 55 adjusted offense - and have found success through small ball.

Against Texas, senior forward Merrill Holden, who started the first nine games, didn't play while freshman Solomon Young only got six minutes, signaling a move toward a guard-heavy rotation.

If this ISU team is going to win games, it has become clear it will be because of stingy defense and a primarily four-guard look on offense. Good defense, Mitrou-Long said, starts with pushing somebody out of their comfort level.

'Just slowing them down,” Mitrou-Long said. 'With any team you just want to get them out of their comfort zone.

'They play tight defense and so do we as far as them denying and so forth. So just getting them out of their comfort zone and play our basketball.”

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