Fred Hoiberg has seen success against his team’s next opponent.

When “The Mayor” was in uniform for the Cyclones, Iowa State went 4-5, and he averaged more than 17 points against the perennially powerful Kansas Jayhawks.

Wednesday, he takes them on for the first time as a coach, when his Cyclones (13-3, 0-1 Big 12) take on No. 3 Kansas (15-0, 0-0) at Hilton Coliseum.

“For us, it’s a great opportunity to go out and see where we are,” Hoiberg said. “They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical, they shoot the heck out of it and they’re fast.”

The coach said his team would have to play “almost a perfect game” to top the nation’s third-ranked squad, and he may be right.

The Jayhawks are the NCAA’s top shooters, hitting on 56; 1 percent of their shots and are one of only five remaining undefeated teams.

“We’re going to have to play the right way,” Hoiberg said.

Kansas is the eighth-best scoring offense in the country (84.3), and features six players that score more than nine points per game. Two of the Jayhawks’ top performers, twins Marcus and Markieff Morris, lead the Jayhawks inside, combining for 28.6 points per game.

Hoiberg said the twins pose “a lot” of problems inside for the undersized Cyclones.

“It’s not only inside, but it’s outside. The Morrises can both shoot the ball,” he said.

And, while the Jayhawks feature six scoring options, they also run much deeper than Iowa State with 10 players seeing the floor for more than 14 minutes.

Iowa State has only six.

“Kansas is always deep, they’ve always got a lot of numbers to throw at you,” said ISU forward Jamie Vanderbeken. “Us, we’ve just got to go with what we have.”

Vanderbeken is one of just three Cyclones, along with guards Diante Garrett and Scott Christopherson — struggling recently with a sore elbow — to have played against the Jayhawks, but none have seen a win against the Big 12 rival.

Kansas has won the last 10 matchups against the Cyclones, with the last ISU victory coming in 2005.

“We’ve had guys who have played in this game,” Hoiberg said. “For our young guys, for our freshman? You just hope they don’t go out there and stare into the lights a little bit.

“They’re going to have to go out and compete from the opening tip. Because if you don’t against a team like Kansas, you’re not going to have a chance.”