It’s a dissatisfying flavor in Bryan Petersen’s mouth, and the only water that can clean it up is in Kansas City.

The Cyclone junior guard will get a chance to wash it out as Iowa State heads to the heart of America for the annual Big 12 tournament for a matchup with Texas A&M at the Sprint Center on Thursday.

“I want to go down there and play really well – and get that bad taste out of my mouth,” Petersen said.

That taste developed in 2006, when the former Kirkwood Community College standout couldn’t propel his team to an National Junior College Athletics Association Division II National Championship title. The Kirkwood Eagles fell to Cecil Community College, 64-63.

A year later, Petersen and the Eagles dropped another heartbreaker – falling a game short of the championship and losing to DMACC.

“Nothing really went right,” he said of last season’s loss. “It was disappointing because we had the No. 1 seed, we were at home – and to lose that game, at home – it was really disappointing.”

The same could be said for Petersen’s team this season, which entered tournament play as a No. 11 seed for only the second time in school history and finished the regular season with a losing record for the second year in a row. With a solid performance in Kansas City this weekend, it would be like this all never happened.

“That could always fix something,” said senior forward Rahshon Clark. “Even though we didn’t have a good season this year, we still have a lot more basketball games to play.”

The Cyclones are guaranteed at least one more game, starting with the No. 6-seeded Aggies which left Hilton Coliseum on Jan.18 as the 18th-ranked team in their 69-51 victory over the Cyclones – Iowa State’s worst home loss of the season.

Sophomore Aggie forward Bryan Davis led the charge with 16 points while shooting 8 of 11 from the field.

“He made some great plays,” said ISU coach Greg McDermott. “We’ll have to provide some help at times. The key is to provide it at the right times.”

Or else other Aggies will contribute, including junior Josh Carter, who had 12 points, and sophomore Donald Sloan, who chipped in with 11.

“It’s always tough when the whole team has a bunch of good players,” said Clark.

And there are plenty. Carter leads the group, averaging 12.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Aggies forward Joseph Jones has steadied their offense with 10.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

“They’ve got some really good post players, and obviously they’ve got some pretty good guards too,” Petersen said.

For the past two games, it’s been Iowa State with a pair of good freshmen. Forward Craig Brackins, who had 24 points against Kansas State on Saturday, is averaging 18.5 points in his last two games. Point guard Diante Garrett has taken over the reins of the offense, averaging 14.5 points per game while shooting 62.5 percent from the field in his last two. Both will be vital to the Cyclones’ success Thursday. McDermott hopes to have something for them to build on for next season.

“It would be a huge positive for both Craig and Diante if they could go into the off-season feeling good about their playing and feeling good about the way they’ve developed,” said McDermott.

Nothing could help that more than a few postseason wins in Kansas City to wash that dirty taste out of Petersen’s mouth.

“We’ve got the right amount of players to get it done and if we keep playing as hard as we can, hopefully some chips will fall our way this time around,” Petersen said.