The Cyclones will be attempting to add to their conference win total against Big 12 South foe Baylor Tuesday on the cardinal and gold painted floor at Hilton Coliseum. Baylor has never won in Ames, coming up 0-7 on its trips to Iowa, and Iowa State leads the overall series 10-7 against the Bears.

Coming off an low scoring loss to Kansas State, the Cyclones are hoping to have short memories, and be prepared to take on a Baylor squad that averages close to 80 points per contest, with five players averaging double figures in scoring.

“They are almost the polar opposite of us, and we’re playing well enough defensively to win, almost night in and night out, and they’ve done what they’ve had to do offensively to win,” ISU coach Greg McDermott said.

“You can’t pinpoint one thing with Baylor and say, ‘We take this away and we got a chance to win.’They’ve got too much talent with their personnel, so you have to be really sound defensively and slow them down the best you can.”

In the match-up between the two teams last year, Craig Brackins scored 33 points, and was 8-for-10 from 3-point range, in the 74-67 Baylor victory.

The game would be a sign of things to come from Brackins, but in this season’s edition, the Cyclones are looking for their defense to step up in order to be successful.

“We need to try and slow them down, you never want to get into a game, where you’re just trading baskets with people,” senior guard Sean Haluska said. “It’s one thing we pride ourselves on is our defense, and we definitely don’t want to get in a shooting match with them.”

Haluska and the other Cyclone guards will be instrumental in controlling the Bears, who shoot almost 38 percent from three point range, and attempting to slow down a face paced team that also averages nearly nine 3-pointers made per game.

“Everybody’s just gotta help out each other on defense, keep them from getting into the paint easily, and make them take contested jump shots, get a hand in their face every time take a shot, nothing easy,” guard Diante Garrett said.

In Saturday’s game against Kansas State, Iowa State had the lead early, and stayed in a tight, scrappy game all night, but couldn’t find the shooting touch when it mattered.

Strong defense and keeping possessions at a premium were keys to the teams success, even if they couldn’t pull out the victory, and they’ll look to work on those same facets for the Baylor game.

“Our defensive execution of what we put in place was as good as its been all year, and that’s the reason we had an opportunity to win the game on a night when we just didn’t shoot the basketball well at all,” McDermott said.

6-foot-11 shooter Jamie Vanderbeken will most likely get the start for the game, but will look to improve after dropping a goose egg scoring in 33 minutes in his first career start against Kansas State on Saturday.

“We are bigger than them, and they go with a smaller lineup most of the time, so I think our size can become an advantage,” Vanderbeken said.

Baylor has been starting three guards at 6-foot-1 and smaller, so the Cyclone reserve guards will likely get minutes chasing around Curtis Jerrells (16.1 ppg) and sixth man LaceDarius Dunn (15.4 ppg).

“They’re all capable, and Jerrells is their guy when he’s got the ball in his hands, and he makes plays for people, but they’re all capable of making plays and capable of shooting,” Haluska said.

This year’s team only needs six more 3-pointers to surpass the single season mark for Iowa State’s best shooting teams. 198 made treys this season, combined with an average 7.3 makes per game make this McDermott’s best shooting team during his tenure, and his squads hold three of the top five positions for most three point makes in a year.

“We’re not a team that is blessed with a bunch of guys that can just get to the basket when things aren’t going well,” McDermott said. “We knew early in the season that this would be a team that relies on the jump shot heavily…and those things haven’t changed.”

A win in the game Tuesday evening would bring the Cyclones to .500 overall, and break the three game losing streak since the 70-42 demolishing of Colorado 13 days ago.