The ISU men’s basketball team is out to avoid an intrastate sweep.

The Cyclones (6-2) have already dropped games to Northern Iowa and Drake, meaning they have one last chance to earn a win against a team from within the Hawkeye State.

And coincidentally, it is the Hawkeyes that offer that final chance for an intrastate win this season.

It will be a battle of the struggling, as Iowa State enters Friday’s game losers of its last two games, while Iowa has lost five of its last seven games.

On the season, Iowa is a meager 4-5, with its most impressive win coming over Toledo. On the other hand, the Hawkeyes have lost to No. 10 Alabama, Villanova, Arizona State and Virginia Tech, playing a hard nonconference schedule.

“[Iowa] coach [Steve] Alford is experiencing some of the same things I’m experiencing,” ISU head coach Greg McDermott said. “He has a lot of new players and some of them he’s asked to play a role they’re not accustomed to.”

Iowa is led by senior Adam Haluska, a former Cyclone who transferred after the 2002-03 season when former ISU head coach Larry Eustachy was fired and replaced with the also-departed Wayne Morgan.

Haluska is Iowa’s leading scorer, averaging more than 17 points per game. He is a fast player who can slash to the basket, as well as step outside and hit 3-pointers. He is also second on the team in assists and a great rebounder.

“He’s the key to their team,” McDermott said. “He’s been very consistent and he’s capable of making six, seven or eight three-point shots on any given night if you lose track of him. He’ll be the focus of our defensive effort.”

Freshman Tyler Smith is the only other Hawkeye averaging double figures , dropping home 14 points per game.

Iowa has a strong ability to get to the basket, and the Cyclones are still looking for the group of players who are best suited to see minutes down low.

Wesley Johnson has emerged as the most consistent big man for Iowa State, as he is second on the team in both scoring and rebounding. Jessan Gray has also made strides, netting nearly eight points an outing.

Jiri Hubalek, however, has struggled coming back from a suspension, going 7-for-23 in his first two games back.

Ross Marsden is the other Cyclone big man, but he has been hampered by the flu, missing Iowa State’s last two games.

“We’re still searching for who the most consistent group will be,” McDermott said. “[Their play is] going to decide who those people are going to be.”

For the Cyclones, there are more than intrastate bragging rights on the line.

Iowa State is in danger of dropping its third straight game after a road loss to Northern Iowa and a heartbreaking 80-78 loss to Drake in its last game.

Even though the Cyclones have lost their last two, they know they are just steps away from wins.

“We came out too slow; we weren’t aggressive on the ball,” Clark said of the Drake game. “We picked it up and if we would have played like that for the whole 40 minutes the outcome would have been totally different.”

Tip-off at 7 p.m. Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The game will be televised on KDSM Channel 17 and ESPNU.