When Iowa State took its first look at Florida State in preparation for its first round matchup in the NCAA tournament, there was a level of familiarity.

Even though the Cyclones and Seminoles have met just once in the program’s histories, Florida State brings something to the matchup that Iowa State saw plenty of in the Big 12: size. The two starters in the post — Lauren Coleman and Natasha Howard — are 6-feet and 6-feet 3-inches tall, respectively.

The way to combat that length of Florida State for the Cyclones is fairly straight forward.

“We’ve faced a lot of size in our league and the challenge for us is to gang rebound like we’ve tried to do all year, try to find ways to keep people out of foul trouble,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly.

Florida State will shake things up on the defensive end — compared to what Iowa State went up against mostly against in the Big 12 — and play a fair amount of zone defense. From the time Iowa State learned what team it would play in the first round, the focus has been particularly more on its offense and putting in a few more sets as opposed to the defense.

While ISU players certainly recognize the dangers the FSU offense poses, it will perhaps be the defense the Cyclones will have to adjust to more.

“They spread it out and trap and I think that’s one of the things we have to work on, just taking care of the ball and making sure we get a rebound,” said junior guard Nikki Moody.

Even though Iowa State has some personnel down low capable of getting rebounds — senior Hallie Christofferson averages 7.3 per game while freshman Seanna Johnson grabs 8 per contest — the team will be going up against the likes of Howard, the FSU All-American candidate.

Howard averages 21.2 points per game and is on track to average the highest amount of points per game in 26 years for the Seminoles. She has also averaged 9.3 rebounds per game.

In preparing for Florida State, ISU associate head coach Jodi Steyer came up with a way to try to make the preparation for the game more relatable to the players.

“We kind of assigned Big 12 names, individual names to all of the Florida State kids so they have a point of reference,” Fennelly said of how players better understood their matchups. “Howard is kind of like Chelsea Gardner from Kansas. Long, athletic, can score the ball in a variety of ways and obviously had some good games against us.”

On the Cyclones’ end, Christofferson is entering her last week — win or lose — of playing at Hilton Coliseum in an Iowa State uniform. But she hasn’t let the emotions of the upcoming games affect her too much so far.

“I guess I haven’t really thought about it that much,” Christofferson said with a slight laugh. “Just trying to do everything I’ve done so far and just continue to play and enjoy the moment and opportunities I have to play here.”

The No. 7 seeded Cyclones matchup with the No. 10 seeded Seminoles is scheduled for a 3 p.m. tipoff on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum with the game slated to be televised on ESPN2.