No. 11 Iowa State Cyclones look to avenge loss to Red Raiders

AMES - Georges Niang walked onto the court at the Sukup Basketball Complex, sporting a souvenir under his right eye from the game at Kansas. His shiner, in this case, is pretty symbolic of the Big 12's 18-game schedule.

'It's a nice little beauty mark I have,” Niang laughed.

Iowa State got a shiner of its own in the form of a loss to Texas Tech on Jan. 24, but will have a shot at redemption. The No. 11 Cyclones play host to the Red Raiders at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Hilton Coliseum.

'I'm just glad we get to play them twice in this league,” Niang said. 'In other leagues, someone kicks your butt and you never see them again so it's good to get a chance to play them again and show who we really are.”

The Cyclones (16-5, 6-3) have gone 2-1 since that game at Texas Tech (12-11, 2-8), but deficiencies at defending the 3-point line stopped them in their tracks in Lawrence. The Jayhawks shot 47.6 percent from long range, with Wayne Selden Jr. shooting 5-of-7.

ISU practices leading into Saturday's game have centered around chasing guys off the 3-point line and being urgent in the rotation.

'Our main goal in practice was to make guys put it on the deck and be basketball players rather than being workout guys where they can catch and shoot 3s,” said sophomore Monte Morris.

'Have we played off of some shooters that haven't had a very high percentage? Yes, but we've gotten burned with that as well,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. 'A lot of it, for us, you've got to run them off the line and make them take those two-point shots outside the paint.”

Part of the defensive problem is rotational, and part of it could also be bad luck, but it's a problem that has gotten players' and coaches' attentions. Morris said the sense of urgency on defense has lacked at times in allowing teams to get hot from 3, but Hoiberg has started to see his team turn the corner this week.

'I was really pleased with how those guys approached practice and how they approached the film session and came down here and had one of our better practices maybe of the year,” Hoiberg said.

Iowa State and Texas Tech are slated for a 1 p.m. tipoff at Hilton Coliseum, which will be televised on ESPNU.