With a backlog of high-ranked teams vying for the conference’s top spots, progressing through the Big 12’s numerous key match-ups becomes a grueling task.

No. 16 Iowa State (18-5, 6-3), currently in a three-way tie for third place, finds itself in the thick of the battle for conference supremacy. The Cyclones’ position in the standings will become a bit more clear on Sunday when they host No. 13 Texas (18-5, 6-3) in a battle of third-place teams.

Since stumbling to 2-3 start to the conference season, the Longhorns have rebounded to string together a four game win-streak, with two of the victories coming against Oklahoma State and Baylor.

“I was told by a number of coaches in the Big 12 that they’re as talented a team as there is in our league. And the last three games they’ve played that way,” coach Bill Fennelly said.

With all 11 players averaging at least nine minutes per game, the Longhorns’ plethora of options presents a daunting challenge for opponents. Apart from juniors Brittainey Raven and Kathleen Nash, who average 13.8 and 13.4 points per game respectively, the Big 12 No. 2 scoring offense has six players with at least 100 points this season.

“The challenge for our team is can you defend them enough, but at the same time we have to find a way to score some points and that’s been a struggle,” Fennelly said.

Scoring has been an issue for the Cyclones during the conference season. Of the Big 12’s top nine teams, Iowa State’s offense ranks above only Texas Tech and Kansas State, averaging 65.3 ppg.

“I think it’s a combination of when you have an open shot you’ve got to do a better job at finishing and I think we’ve passed up some shots that we need to take and sometimes that leads to the next shot you take is harder to make,” Fennelly said.

Despite their low scoring output, the defensive minded Cyclones had won five-in-a-row prior to their Wednesday showdown with No. 2 Oklahoma. Following their game plan of trying to dictate the game’s tempo and spread out the Oklahoma’s loaded offense, the Cyclones were able to jump to an early lead in the second half. Although they held Oklahoma to its second-lowest scoring performance of the season, the Cyclones managed to shoot only 27.6 percent in the second half, allowing the Sooners to overpower them for a 58-49 victory.

“All the things we felt we needed to do we did, we just didn’t make enough shots,” Fennelly said.

Finding consistency from the offense may play a pivotal role in deciding who emerges Sunday with its seventh Big 12 win.

“We didn’t score in bunches against Colorado, but we had enough to survive and win the game. You can’t do that against Oklahoma and certainly you’re not going to be able to do that against Texas,” Fennelly said.