When late February rolls around, game preparation becomes more of a memory-refresher than anything else.

Just two weeks after the first meeting of the season, Iowa State and Kansas State will meet again Feb. 23 in Manhattan, Kan. In the first matchup on Feb. 9, the Cyclones (18-6, 9-5 Big 12) used a 25-point performance by forward Hallie Christofferson and a solid first half by forward Chelsea Poppens to beat the Wildcats (13-13, 4-10 Big 12), 87-71 in Ames.

Having just played Kansas State a couple weeks ago, ISU coach Bill Fennelly believes there aren’t too many new things to put into the game plan, since the last meeting should be fairly fresh in the minds of the players.

“We’re just trying to err on the side of refreshing and making sure we know what we’re doing,” Fennelly said. “Trying to … look at the big picture with four games to go.”

On Feb. 9, Poppens finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds while recording the double-double in the first half alone. She felt her team was clicking in almost every way that day due to its size advantage.

“At least in the first half, we did everything we needed to and I feel like we’ve got to come out with that same mindset,” Poppens said. “Playing an away game is always hard and we’ve just got to come with our own energy because we won’t have Hilton fans here to support us.”

In a high-scoring game that saw Kansas State finish with 71 points, 59 of which coming from KSU guards, Brittany Chambers and Mariah White alone. Chambers finished with 34 points and went 13-of-17 from the free-throw line, while White shot 8-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.

“Our mindset was to limit the threes and I think we did what we planned to and what we were supposed to, [which was] don’t let Chambers get her three-point shot,” Poppens said. “She took some tough twos; that was the plan and I felt like we executed it.”

With Kansas State playing without a starter taller than 5-foot-11, Iowa State will try to utilize the mismatch down low, something that guard Brynn Williamson thinks is good to do while still taking what the defense presents.

“Even though you want to get it to the post players every time, when you’re open, you’ve got to shoot the ball as well,” Williamson said, who finished with nine points and five assists in the first meeting against Kansas State. “It’s not like they just completely leave the guards open, [Kidd and I] get open looks, Nikki gets open drives to the basket. At the end of the day, it’s do what’s working.”

Tip-off between Iowa State and Kansas State is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Feb. 23 in Manhattan, Kan.