Having 6-foot-2-inch senior guard Jake Anderson lead the Cyclones and rank third in the Big 12 with 7.8 rebounds per game is testament to effort and determination.

It also means Iowa State isn’t working with ideal size in the front court, and that Anderson is having to fill in as a physical presence.

In a conference as strong as the Big 12, that can create some problems.

“It’s a big adjustment,” said coach Fred Hoiberg of his young guy’s step up in competition. “You look at guys like Melvin [Ejim] and Calvin [Godfrey] they’re playing against big-time players, physical players, strong players.

“You get Marshall Moses one night, then you get Ricardo Ratliffe the next. You play Perry Jones the game before that, the Morris twins the game before that. Nebraska had three guys over 7 feet.”

The mismatches seem to get worse against the larger, taller teams the Cyclones are seeing in the Big 12, with the team giving up huge performances to Kansas’ Marcus Morris and Oklahoma State’s front court. Iowa State’s lack of depth is starting to show through and with so many players being forced to work out of position, it may not get fixed quickly.

“You’re playing against big, tough strong guys every night and you’ve got to find a way to compete against those guys, you’ve got to find a way to make it tough on them,” Hoiberg said. “We’re trying to do that, some nights we’re just over-matched.”

At 6 feet 6 inches and around 215 pounds, the freshman Ejim would be an ideal fit to be a small forward in his coach’s offense. But with 6-foot-11-inch Jamie Vanderbeken, the only action-ready Cyclone that can play in the middle on defense, Ejim is forced to play power forward against some of the aforementioned big names in the Big 12.

“It’s definitely been frustrating because these guys are a lot bigger, a lot stronger and a lot more experienced but I’m just going out to try and help the team,” the 19-year-old Ejim said. “It’s just something I’m going to have to deal with the rest of the season so I need to get my confidence up and play hard.”

Ejim’s numbers have dropped slightly with the onset of conference play, with rebound positioning and the team’s need to shoot from long range taking away from some of his touches. At a size and strength disadvantage down in the blocks against bigger bodies, he isn’t the only Cyclone struggling to get rebounds.

“The thing we have to be able to do is get that rebound. Like I talked about at the beginning of the year, that’s going to be one area where it’s tough for us to compete,” Hoiberg said. “Jake Anderson has given us a great lift, we just have to make a conscious effort and everybody has to get in there.”

With Vanderbeken, the team’s tallest player shooting from outside on offense and typically playing with three guards, the Cyclones just haven’t been big or quick enough against conference foes to get the rebounds they could wrangle earlier in the season.

“We shot the ball extremely well all year, we’re the number one three-point shooting team in the conference and that’s the strength of our team,” Hoiberg said. “We did not shoot the ball well the other night. That happens. But you have to defend, you have to rebound to give yourself a chance to win.”

Texas Tech is one of the smallest teams in the Big 12, and Saturday’s opponent Oklahoma isn’t as large as Iowa State’s past opponents, either. With the team’s conference record slipping toward the cellar, this may be the week for the Cyclones to capitalize and use their abilities.

“This week we have two teams coming in that are definitely beatable teams, [we want] to be right back in the race, so these are two games they we definitely have to go out there and play well,” Ejim said.