A game against fellow Big 12 cellar dweller Oklahoma State seemed to be a chance for the ISU men’s basketball team to get back into the win column.

Now the game doesn’t look so easy, however.

Oklahoma State picked up its fourth conference win of the season Sunday, blowing out then-No. 6 Texas by 21.

“They’ll be flying pretty high,” said ISU coach Wayne Morgan. “They’ll come in here playing hard and with a lot of confidence.”

The win snapped a three-game Cowboy losing skid and pulled them even with Iowa State and Missouri in the Big 12’s basement.

Although Oklahoma State has lost seven of its last nine games and sports just a 14-12 overall record, Morgan said the Cowboys have been playing much better as of late.

“They’ve had their ups and downs,” Morgan said. “They have a lot of new talent and it’s taking them a while to figure out playing at this level.”

Seven Cowboy players were either in high school or at junior colleges at this time last year, giving them a young team that has taken some time to gel.

And a win against Texas may be what it takes to get the team clicking.

“They’re going to come here with confidence,” said ISU guard Will Blalock.

Although the Cowboys will be bursting with confidence after beating one of the conference’s top two teams, the Cyclones will be looking to get some of their swagger back.

A heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma on Saturday was the fourth consecutive game Iowa State failed to win. The Cyclones held the lead throughout most of the game – highlighted by a seven point advantage with 1:12 to play – but failed to perform down the stretch.

“We went toe-to-toe with Oklahoma and we figure they’re probably [one of the] top-three [teams] in the conference,” Blalock said. “Now we figure with our schedule, we should be able to beat anyone.

“Guys don’t have their heads down. We realize we should have won that game.”

After being shredded by Nebraska center Aleks Maric one week ago – followed by the ISU post players being called out by Blalock for their lack of effort – the Cyclones did a better job down low, holding Sooner big men Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout to a combined 20 points and 14 rebounds.

“Our big guys are giving everything they can every day,” Morgan said. “They have to get better and they’re going to contribute more.”

“Any game we win or lose we all win together or we all lose together. We’re a team. Either we all win or we all lose.”

Iowa State’s four final contests are all games the Cyclones should win, with home games against Oklahoma State and Missouri, and road trips to Baylor and Colorado rounding out the regular season.

The Cyclones have already beaten Missouri and Colorado once this season and Baylor is the lone team behind Iowa State in the standings.

“We have to regain our confidence with a win at home,” Blalock said. “We have four more games on our schedule and they’re all winnable games.”

The final games are also important as the Cyclones look to ensure a postseason bid, even if they land in the National Invitation Tournament.

“We really need them at this point,” Blalock said. “We can’t see if we can get two out of the four, three out of the four. We need all four of them.”

After making the NIT’s final four two seasons ago and beating Minnesota in the first round of last season’s NCAA tournament, postseason expectations were high for this year’s Cyclone team.

Dating back to Tim Floyd’s first season in Ames, Iowa State has advanced to postseason play in eight of the last 10 years, with six of those teams earning trips to the NCAA tournament.

In those six NCAA tournament trips, the Cyclones have failed to make it out of the first round only once, making the Sweet 16 in 1997 and the Elite Eight in 2000.

“I expect to be good and expect to have good teams,” Morgan said. “Obviously we’re not pleased with where we are now, but we’re going to continue to work to get better and to try to change that.”

Game time against Oklahoma State is set for 8 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum.