To Melvin Ejim, Wells Fargo Arena has been good — really good.

On Wednesday before practice at the Sukup Basketball Complex, Ejim spoke of it like an affectionate woman, dreaming that she’d be good to him again, this time against in-state Northern Iowa.

“I’m hoping,” Ejim said with a laugh. “Hopefully, she’s kind to me, and I have another good game.”

In the two games Ejim has played in Des Moines at the arena, he’s racked up 43 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, six steals and two blocks.

The first was a 91-88 win against Creighton — which was being coached in his first season by former ISU head coach Greg McDermott — spurred by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Jamie Vanderbeken.

The other was an 86-77 win, marred by 52 fouls, but sprung by Ejim’s fourth career double-double.

So, is it something in the lighting in that place?

“I don’t know, if there is I’m trying to find out before the game starts,” Ejim said. “I think it was just they were important games; they were fun.”

Dustin Hogue isn’t entirely new to the in-state rivalry between the two schools.

The JUCO transfer — fresh off his career night against Auburn with 22 points and 16 rebounds — got a whiff of it while playing at Indian Hills Community College a year ago but said he did hear about it when he committed to Iowa State.

“I didn’t really know about the rivalry until I was at Indian Hills, and then when I committed to Iowa State, I kind of lost a lot of fans,” Hogue said. “I kind of took it a little personally so now the rivalry is personal now.”

ISU coach Fred Hoiberg expects this weekend to give his team an early season feel for environments they’ll face in the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo., in mid-March, or even the postseason in the NCAA tournament if the team makes it.

“You’ve got four fan bases at one site, you’ve got both bands, cheerleaders, and it kind of gives you that feel,” Hoiberg said. “All this is part of the process to help prepare you for the postseason. I think any neutral site game does that. We’ll play a neutral game in the Big 12 tournament, and if we’re fortunate enough to get into the NCAA, you look back on this as a game that’s helped you prepare for that.”

It won’t quite be the Cy-Hawk Series on Saturday against Northern Iowa, but it still is an in-state rivalry game to the team and will be especially important to Ejim, who hasn’t beaten the Panthers in his career at Iowa State.

“It’s big time,” Ejim said of the game. “It’s bragging rights not just for us but for everyone. All the people who go to Iowa State and for the respective schools. It’s always a big game, these in-state rivalry games are always fun, always big, always a great turn-out, so it’s going to be exciting.”