When the ISU men’s basketball team takes on Texas Tech on Saturday, the first regular season of the Greg McDermott era will come to a close.

McDermott, who has turned around two programs already, said the first year has had its ups and downs, but the program is moving in the right direction.

“If Iowa State wanted a quick fix, they would have hired someone else,” McDermott said. “They knew what my plan would be and frankly, when I took over the job it wasn’t in need of a quick fix.

“We are moving in the right direction, but certainly we are not there yet.”

Iowa State’s 15-14 record and 6-9 mark in the conference isn’t something Cyclone fans have been accustomed to over the past two-and-a-half decades, and McDermott said he knows this. The biggest issue, McDermott said, is making sure the fans remain patient.

“The difference between here and [Wayne State and Northern Iowa] is those two jobs had very little tradition and expectations,” McDermott said. “That wasn’t the case here. The level of expectation is different.

“My challenge isn’t really about getting it across to my team and my coaching staff how we need to go about this, it’s just making sure our fans understand what we are trying to do here and that it is going to take some time.”

McDermott said the huge influx of new players this year and a large freshman class expected to contribute next year have made success and progress erratic at times.

“We have some good players coming here next year, but they are freshmen,” McDermott said. “Freshmen are going to play like freshmen at times. That’s just reality. I’m OK with that, but sometimes it is harder to educate fans because of what they’ve been used to the past 25 years.”

The up-and-down identity was never more evident than last weekend when Iowa State was defeated 89-52 by the same Kansas team it took to overtime in mid-January.

And yet, the Cyclones bounced back to pick up a conference road win at Nebraska on Tuesday, 69-63.

Cyclone freshman Wesley Johnson broke out of a slump to put up 22 points to go with six rebounds. Junior college transfer Corey McIntosh also started to show some of the talent that made him JUCO Player of the Year in California, with 14 points.

Iowa State will need to keep those players hot for Saturday’s tangle with the Red Raiders (19-11, 8-7 Big 12), who are fighting for an NCAA Tournament at-large berth.

A road win for the Raiders would likely punch their ticket to the dance, especially with a respectable showing at the conference tournament. However, Iowa State could play spoiler and damage Tech’s hopes by scoring the upset on Iowa State’s Senior Night.

“It’s our last home game and we have four seniors who will be wearing a Cyclone uniform for the last time in Hilton and we would like to send them out with a bang,” McDermott said. “What Coach Knight has accomplished is really unbelievable, but once the game starts, it won’t be any different.”

Iowa State’s four seniors who will play in front of the home crowd are Jeff Bergstrom, Chris Ceaser, Jessan Gray and Dustin Streff. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.