Not only is the number 20 a nice even number, in college men’s basketball it’s a sign of accomplishment — and often a precursor to an at-large NCAA tournament berth — during a 30-game regular season. Iowa State will have its opportunity to reach 20 regular season wins for the first time since the 2000-2001 season when it hosts Texas Tech on Wednesday.

ISU coach Fred Hoiberg, who was the leading scorer on the 1994-95 ISU team that won 20 of 29 regular-season games, is aware of the milestone, but he is telling his team to treat Wednesday’s matchup like it has in its previous 27 games this season.

“Again, I’ll just keep going back to it, we’re going one at a time here,” Hoiberg said. “We got a great 19th win against Oklahoma and we’ll shoot for number 20 against Tech.”

The Cyclones (19-8, 9-5 Big 12) also will try to become only the fourth team in school history to win 10 conference games Wednesday when they host the Red Raiders (8-18, 1-13 Big 12).

For ISU senior guard Scott Christopherson, the 10 conference wins looms larger for Iowa State’s postseason chances than the 20 overall regular-season wins.

“I think getting to double-digit wins in the league … I think that would be big for us,” Christopherson said. “If we can get this one on Wednesday and get to 10-5, I think that would be a great position to be in going into the last three games and then the conference tournament.”

Coming off what his coach described as his “most complete game” in the last two years Saturday against Oklahoma, Christopherson felt his ball movement was more important to complete the season sweep of the Sooners than his season-high 25 points.

“I think more so than the scoring, I really felt like I was out there getting the ball moving from side to side — which for our team, when we play, offensively the ball moves from side to side — and then when we get a little stagnant, sometimes it just stays in one spot a little too long,” Christopherson said.

Iowa State recorded assists on 20 of its 28 made field goals Saturday, upping its percentage of assists on made field goals to 67.7 percent in its last five games.

“We’re finding the extra man, we’ve been making good unselfish plays and we’re getting great open looks because of that,” Hoiberg said. “If we continue to play that way the rest of the year, especially these remaining four regular-season games, I think we’ll have a chance to win all of them.”

Sophomore forward Melvin Ejim, who separated a joint above his shoulder in the first half of the Cyclones’ 80-69 win against Oklahoma, dished out four assists and was on the receiving end of three others as he logged his second double-double of the year with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Despite the shoulder injury, Ejim expects to play Wednesday.

“We’re trying to make our case that we belong in the NCAA tournament and just as a team, one of our goals is to get these wins,” Ejim said. “So 20 wins is going to be a good mark.”

The visiting Red Raiders find themselves at the bottom of the Big 12 standings when they visit Wednesday and are coming off a 83-50 defeat at Kansas on Saturday.

“In this league, there are no gimme games,” Hoiberg said. “You’ve got to go out there and perform every single night, and our guys — I’ve been saying this for quite a while now — that the focus that these guys have on a daily basis has been excellent.”

Wednesday night’s tip is scheduled for 8 p.m.