OKLAHOMA CITY – Discipline.

It’s what ISU men’s basketball coach Greg McDermott has preached to all of the teams he’s coached.

No. 8 seed Iowa State (15-15, 6-10) had better be all ears.

Thursday’s first-round game in the Ford Center against ninth-seeded Oklahoma (15-14, 6-10) is supposed to be on a neutral court, but Norman is just 30 minutes outside of Oklahoma City, and Sooner fans are expected to overwhelm the city.

“This is pretty much an away game,” said ISU guard Mike Taylor. “There will be a lot of fans pulling for them since this is not too far from their city, and we just need to go out there and to play Cyclone basketball.”

The last time the two teams faced off – in Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 13 – the Cyclones never relinquished a 15-point halftime lead, eventually winning, 58-51.

A lot has changed in just under a month, and that means Iowa State needed to adjust to a completely different Sooner team than what it saw before – especially in a hostile environment.

“We play really well when we have the inside presence and work from the inside out,” Taylor said. “Our biggest key as a team is to rotate the ball around the horn and try and get some inside touches early.”

That philosophy – on a team that rarely hesitates to shoot the long ball – has taken some adjustment. Still, McDermott has kept with the game plan, and as the tournament nears, he remains confident in the Cyclones’ ability to open some eyes.

Especially with how the regular season ended.

“It appeared as recently as a couple weeks ago that we were destined for a 10 or 11 seed,” McDermott said. “We’re doing some things better.”

Much of that can be attributed to Big 12 All-Rookie standout Wesley Johnson, who’s averaging 12.3 points per game.

“I’m anxious to go out there and play because I’ve never been to a Big 12 Tournament,” Johnson said. “We have an idea about how they’re gong to come at us. We’re going to be the aggressor; we need to come out and stay focused.”

Johnson’s efforts have not gone unnoticed by teammates or coaches. In fact, Johnson’s solid play has helped relieve some of the pressure felt by other players on the team.

“The role he had to take on was a role that he probably wasn’t used to playing at the level that he’d been playing at,” said Taylor, who’s averaging nearly 16 points per game. “The way he picked up his game from the start of conference play has kind of been a relief on me, because I was feeling like I had to do almost everything on the team.”

McDermott has been equally impressed.

“For the most part he’s been a rock for us,” he said. “Freshmen aren’t thrown into the situation very often, and Wes has handled it well.”

And it all comes back to discipline – on offense, defense and in practice.

So far, so good.

“The teams that I’ve coached that have had success have been disciplined,” McDermott said. “Some of those teams have scored a lot of points, and some haven’t. We’ve made enormous strides in that direction.

“You have to teach a lot of different things, and it takes some time, but I like the direction we’re heading.”

Thursday’s 11:30 a.m. tip-off will tell a lot about just how much the Cyclones have learned.

Let the games begin.