It looks like the ISU men’s basketball team is getting healthy at just the right time.

After playing both exhibition games without senior Jiri Hubalek and one game without senior Rahshon Clark, both are expected to be in the starting lineup Friday when the Cyclones open the season against Winston Salem State in the Cyclone Challenge.

Hubalek practiced Tuesday for the first time since suffering an avulsion fracture in his right foot on Oct. 27. Clark sat out the final exhibition game against EA Sports to rest his sore left knee, but practiced Tuesday. Clark’s injury might be one that lingers all season, and something he’ll have to get used to.

“[Hubalek] is set to go. Obviously conditioning will be a factor here for a while yet, but it’s good to have him back on the floor,” said coach Greg McDermott. “We’ll used [Clark] in practice sparingly. He’s not going to do any damage by playing on it, that has been confirmed by our medical staff.”

While it is never good to be without upperclassman leadership, the seniors’ absence gave new faces a chance to get some valuable minutes. That experience will come in handy this weekend when the Cyclones will have to play on back-to-back nights.

“Depth is going to be critical throughout our season, especially when you are playing two games in two nights,” McDermott said. “It is good in a sense that Rahshon and Jiri were out for the exhibition games because a bunch of the other players were able to take those minutes and we were able to evaluate them on the playing floor rather than the practice floor.”

McDermott said the team treated the EA Sports game as a regular-season game, so the fresh faces have one real-game experience under their belts and might adjust faster to the regular season.

In addition to getting comfortable with the flow of the game, getting to play two games at Hilton will help ease the adjustment to the college game. All the newcomers have now experienced playing in front of large crowds and have had a chance to get used to the atmosphere.

“To come out and play in the exhibition game, they know how fast-paced this game is, and how playing at home is great because you have the crowd behind you,” Clark said. “So I think the first two exhibition games really helped them out.”

Friday night, the Cyclones will square off against a Winston Salem team that returns four of its starters from last season. That may not be a good thing for a Rams team that went 5-24 last year. They did add some height in the off-season, which could help against the long, athletic Cyclones.

Iowa State plays at 8 p.m. again on Saturday against the winner of a Centenary-Lipscomb matchup.

Regardless of who they face, the Cyclones will have a serious height advantage. Winston Salem is the only other team in the tournament that starts a player taller than 6-foot-8-inches.

These games against inferior competition will give Iowa State a chance to acclimate Hubalek and Clark back into the lineup and prepare for a tough stretch of games coming up.

With so many lineup shuffles, the team is still making adjustments, but that is something that will happen all season.

“The team is never where it needs to be,” Clark said. “You always have a goal, and when you reach that goal, you want to go beyond that. So we are still a team that is working and trying to get better every day.”

Cyclone Challenge schedule*

Friday

Centenary vs. Lipscomb, 5:30 p.m.

Iowa State vs. Winston Salem State, 8 p.m. (Mediacom)

Saturday

Winston Salem State vs. Centenary/Lipscomb, 5:30 p.m.

Iowa State vs. Centenary/Lipscomb, 8 p.m. (Mediacom)

*The tournament will be conducted in a championship-style format, with all teams playing two games . Iowa State will play at 8 p.m. Saturday even if it loses to Winston Salem State on Friday . if Iowa State does lose in game one, the championship game will be played at 5:30 p.m.