Iowa State hopes its second game against an intrastate rival goes a little better than the first.

The Cyclones (6-1) are preparing for Sunday’s battle against the Drake Bulldogs on the heels of their 70-57 defeat by Northern Iowa in ISU coach Greg McDermott’s return to the UNI-Dome last Wednesday.

The Cyclones were plagued by cold shooting, making only 33 percent of their attempts from the field.

“When you can’t put the ball in the basket, it makes it tough to win games,” said ISU forward Rahshon Clark. “Even though they shot a low percentage too, we just couldn’t make shots.”

Against Drake, the Cyclones will have to maintain composure on the offensive side – although Iowa State will have the home-court advantage, they will be faced by the Bulldogs’ relentless full-court pressure defense.

“[Not rushing shots] is something we have to improve upon,” McDermott said. “We have to be better at reading those situations, and that’s tough because we haven’t been in those situations a lot yet.

“You can try and simulate it in practice, but it’s not the same. We’ll break down [the UNI] tape, see our mistakes and try to get better because of it.”

Drake (2-2) is coming off a 104-51 victory against Waldorf and will look for its first victory against the Cyclones since a 72-58 triumph in 2001.

Drake is led by senior forward Ajay Clavin, who is averaging nearly 19 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Junior guard Chris Bryant is the other Bulldog averaging double digits in scoring at more than 11 points per game.

Senior Al Stewart will be one of the key players for the Bulldogs as he averages nearly five assists per game.

The Bulldogs are coached by Tom Davis, who coached the Iowa Hawkeyes for 13 seasons. Davis is famous for the full-court pressure strategy employed by his teams. He holds an 8-8 (0-3 at Drake) record against Iowa State.

The Cyclones hope to keep themselves out of the situation they ran into against Northern Iowa.

Iowa State trailed Northern Iowa by nine points at halftime, but quickly rallied to tie the game 8 minutes into the second half.

But the Cyclones couldn’t ever get over the hump, and ended up fading down the stretch, failing to record a field goal in the final 5:57.

“We were a couple possessions away from taking it right down to the end, but we made some critical mistakes,” McDermott said.

“Our athleticism was our chance to take them out of some things and gain some advantages, but we just didn’t move our feet enough.”

The Cyclones were supposed to be boosted by the return of big man Jiri Hubalek from his NCAA-mandated suspension, but Hubalek shot an ugly 4-18 from the floor while fellow big man Ross Marsden was out with the flu.

Guard Mike Taylor was just 1-of-9 from the floor, giving the Cyclones the appearance of being tense and rushed at times on offense in front of the hostile UNI-Dome crowd and the Panthers’ tough defense.

This Sunday’s game against Drake is scheduled for a 1 p.m. tip inside Hilton Coliseum and will be televised on the Cyclone Television Network.