Iowa State is ready to close out a road victory. 

Despite multiple failed attempts at closing out key Big 12 road games this season, the ISU men’s basketball team (16-6, 6-3 Big 12) is ready to give it another try Feb. 9 against No. 13 Kansas State.

The Cyclones found the lead late on the road against Kansas early in the season before the Jayhawks forced overtime and did the same against Oklahoma State last week. Both games ended in road losses for Iowa State.

Another road test Feb. 9 will provide a chance to end that streak. 

“We feel we can go out and play with the best,” said ISU forward Melvin Ejim. “Doing that, you have to prove you can win on the road and this is a great opportunity. Kansas State is a great team and we’re going to prepare like we would for any other team and try to start winning games on the road.”

The game will provide a difficult challenge for Iowa State as road teams in the Big 12 haven’t faired well so far this season. The top six teams in the conference — the ones with winning Big 12 records — have gone a combined 22-4 at home in league play.

The Wildcats (18-4, 7-2) are 3-1 at home in conference play and have won three consecutive games since the Cyclones beat them 73-67 at Hilton Coliseum in January. 

“It’s going to be a difficult game for us going in, I know that,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “They’re playing as well as anyone in our league right now.”

When Iowa State beat Kansas State in Ames, ISU guard Chris Babb played the entire 40 minutes guarding Rodney McGruder. 

“We usually take Chris [Babb] out when they take the other team’s best player out,” Hoiberg said. “They never took McGruder out of the game when we played them in Ames.”

Babb held McGruder to 13 points in the win, which was below his season average of 15.4 points. Hoiberg said with Bubu Palo back, Babb may get more rest even if McGruder doesn’t.

If Babb does need to play a full 40 minutes, though, he doesn’t mind. 

“I don’t think much about it,” Babb said of playing a full game. “Until the next day, then I think about it.”

For now, the Cyclones are focused on trying to end their streak of narrow road losses to the Big 12’s top teams.

“I think our mentality — except for the [Texas] Tech game — on the road has been very good this year,” Hoiberg said. “We just have to go down there and find a way to finish it off.”

Tipoff will be at 5 p.m. on Feb. 9 in Manhattan, Kan. The game will be shown on ESPN2.