The roller coaster ride of a conference schedule continues for the Cyclones, who take on the No. 15 Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday, looking to avoid their second conference road loss in five days.

After a 28-point win over Colorado a week ago, and a 19-point loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday, Iowa State will attempt to find some continuity in their play, focusing on the Jayhawks and their balanced game.

“It’ll be a challenge for us, and I’m sure they’ll have some sort of different plan for Craig Brackins this time around. Craig has to be ready to respond to that,” Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said. Brackins’ 42 point performance in the first match up between the teams got the attention of coaches around the Big 12, and since then, defenses around him have changed.

“I always have confidence in my teammates, no matter what happens,” Brackins said.

“I don’t expect them to make every shot, but I feel like when I throw it to them, I know it’s going in. If they shoot with confidence, I think we’ll be OK.”

Brackins has led the squad in scoring in 14 of its last 16 games, but along with the recognition comes defensive attention. Brackins will be expecting a double team, something he has seen all season, but Iowa State will have a large task of their own, taking on junior guard Sherron Collins, who tore up the Cyclones for 27 points of his own in the last game.

“I think he’s the best guard in our league. And he’s the hardest person to guard in our league because of his ability to shoot the three-point shot and getting to the basket and being physical when he gets there,” McDermott said.

Collins has averaged 17.6 points and five assists per game, as the motor and driver of the Jayhawk offense. Iowa State senior guard Sean Haluska played defense on Collins during the first match up, and McDermott hinted that Haluska would likely see the majority of time on the star again.

“There’s never a dull moment when you’re on him, you’ve gotta be prepared to guard everything that he does, whether it’s shooting or driving and defending his drives to the basket,” Haluska said. “You just have to be ready at all times.”

The only loss Kansas has seen in the Big 12 thus far has been to the Missouri Tigers, a team that beat Iowa State twice by a combined 45 points. Kansas came back from 16 points down to rival Kansas State over the weekend, scoring 69 points and switching to a triangle-and-two defense in the second half. Both are things that should worry Cyclone fans.

“Our defense the second half at Oklahoma State was probably as poor as its been all year… We just didn’t respond to the subtle changes they made in the locker room at halftime,” McDermott said.

Jayhawks center Cole Aldrich has been averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds on the season, and also leads the league in blocked shots. Aldrich has been the middle force for the team all year, but 6-foot-11, 255 pound freshman Justin Hamilton was able to use his size to take Aldrich out of his comfort zone in the first game.

“It’s hard, but our coaches prepare us pretty well, and that will help me out, we’ll all work on it as a team,” Hamilton said.

The defending national champs boast balanced play across the court, with six players averaging seven points per contest.

“They’re not in a situation where you can run a double team and get the ball out of [Collins’] hands and nobody else can beat you — they’ve got plenty of weapons on that team,” McDermott said.

Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence is known to be unkind to conference foes, and “The Phog” holds the nation’s longest home winning streak, at 37 games. Combined with Iowa State’s 13 game conference road losing streak, the Cyclones will need their best effort of the season to hold their own.