Two Saturday conference road games in the state of Texas for the ISU men’s basketball team this season and two similar results.

The Cyclones routed Texas Tech 76-54 on Saturday two weeks after beating Texas A&M by a similar 24-point margin.

“Texas has been treating us well. We came out here with a business mentality and took care of business,” said ISU forward Melvin Ejim. “This was a win that we really needed that put us in third place in the league and was vital to our goals this season.”

The Cyclones (14-5, 4-2 Big 12) and Red Raiders (7-11, 0-6) traded blows early in Saturday’s contest, exchanging the lead nine times in the first half before a pair of 7-0 runs gave Iowa State a 26-16 lead. Iowa State maintained its double-digit lead into halftime as it took a 35-23 lead at the break.

“It was a really good win. I thought our guys came out with great focus and energy in the first five minutes,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “They hit a couple of shots and we missed a couple of wide open ones, but we didn’t get frustrated. We kept playing and battling and following our game plan and really played … a complete 40-minute game.”

The catalyst for Iowa State’s lead at the break was junior guard Tyrus McGee, who came off the bench and drained four 3-pointers to lead all players with 14 points at the half.

“He’s just letting it fly right now, so it’s been fun to watch him get on track,” Hoiberg said. “He was a big part of this thing for us.”

McGee had quite the week for the Cyclones, finishing Saturday’s game with a team-high 20 points, in addition to the 17 he scored in a win against Oklahoma State on Wednesday.

McGee, who was 11-of-20 from 3-point range in the two games, credited his recent offensive success to the additional time he’s spent getting shots up at the gym over the last few weeks.

“I’ve been in the gym very recently. … I’ve been continuing to shoot and trying to stay consistent,” McGee said. “I came out against Oklahoma State and felt really good with all of my shots, and then tonight I came out here and felt really good. I’m just going to try to stay consistent and keep going to the gym.”

Iowa State played well on the offensive end, shooting 48 percent from the field, but also had one of its best defensive games of the season. The Cyclones registered a season-high 11 steals and forced the Red Raiders to turn the ball over 15 times.

Iowa State will fly back to Texas on Tuesday, as the team will be in Austin to tangle with Texas for the second time this season. The Longhorns (12-7, 2-4), who fell to the Cyclones 77-71 on Jan. 4, are coming off a three-point home loss to Kansas on Saturday.

“I guess the good thing is we’ve recently played them, and we should have a pretty good idea of what they run,” Hoiberg said of Texas. “They’re going to be coming back and I’m sure wanting to get a win, so we’ve got to go out with the same focus we’ve had.”

Tuesday’s game is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m.