After losing in heartbreaking fashion, 96-87 in overtime at Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, Iowa State now is in Columbia, Mo., to take on No. 13 Missouri on Saturday night.

To compound the difficulty of playing back-to-back road conference games, the Cyclones (14-5, 1-3 in Big 12) didn’t even make it back Wednesday night to Ames after the loss to the Cowboys.

An ice storm in Stillwater, Okla., forced the team to bus to Tulsa, Okla., for a different flight home. However, the flight was grounded in Tulsa, too, leading to the team flying directly to Columbia for Saturday’s game.

“It’s been a real long road trip,” said ISU guard Diante Garrett on the phone Friday from Columbia.

The Cyclones’ extra time in Columbia has given the Cyclones more time to prepare for their next opponent.

“We’re just trying to get as much in as we can to be ready for Saturday,” Garrett said.

The Tigers (16-3, 2-2) have split their first four conference games with losses to Colorado and then-13th-ranked Texas A&M. They have the fifth-best scoring offense in the country, scoring 84.9 points per game through 19 games.

Missouri’s five starters all average more than 10 points per game, playing in coach Mike Anderson’s fast-paced style. The Tigers will play full-court pressure defense off and on throughout the game, mixing up the defensive looks they give the Cyclones. Eight Tigers play more than 18 minutes a game.

“It’s going to be a real up and down game,” Garrett said. “It’s going to high scoring and real fun to play out there.”

The Tigers are guard heavy, led by Marcus Denmon, Michael Dixon and Kim English in the starting five. However, their inside game is solid with forwards Laurence Bowers and Ricardo Ratliffe each averaging 11 points and more than six rebounds a game. 

The Cyclones, already beaten up with injury and sickness going into the road trip, are playing back-to-back road games for the first time this season.

Guard Scott Christopherson has played with a bone spur in his right elbow, while forward Jamie Vanderbeken has been on a sore ankle. Guard Diante Garrett was sick with flu-like symptoms when the team left Ames on Tuesday, but scored 25 points and had six assists in Wednesday’s loss.

“We’ve just got to keep our focus,” Garrett said. “We’ve got to learn from our mistakes from Wednesday and get ready to play on Saturday.

Two Cyclones, Garrett and Christopherson, played more than the normal 40 minutes in the overtime loss Wednesday. All five starters played more than 30 of the game’s 45 available minutes.