The ISU women’s basketball team has made one thing clear about Saturday’s bout with Colorado: Focus will not be an issue.

Defending national champion Baylor Bears come to Hilton on Wednesday, but the Cyclones plan on taking care of business on the road first.

“There’s no chance in [overlooking Colorado],” said junior guard Lyndsey Medders. “I’ve had a lot of people ask me ‘What’s it like having the defending national champions come in?’ but all of our focus right now is on Colorado.”

Teammate Nicky Wieben agreed.

“We aren’t even looking to next week right now,” she said. “Right now we’re really just trying to focus on Colorado and getting a win.”

The Buffaloes (6-11, 1-4 Big 12) are experiencing some growing pains behind new head coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, having dropped their most recent contest to Missouri on Wednesday, 69-49.

Their lone win has come against Kansas, which posts a 1-3 conference record.

Colorado has lost five of its last six games.

“You look at our remaining road games, we know Colorado’s a game we can be competitive in,” Medders said. “That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Iowa State (11-4, 2-2) most recently defeated Nebraska, 79-57, and hopes to ride that momentum into Boulder on Saturday.

“We’ve learned a lot from the past games that we’ve played, and we can carry that into the future,” Wieben said. “If we come into each game with a great effort, you never know what can happen.”

With a new coach, the Cyclones expect to see different things out of Colorado’s offense.

The Buffaloes rank eighth in the Big 12 in total scoring offense at 70.5 points per game, just above Iowa State.

Conversely, the Cyclones rank fifth in the conference in scoring defense, whereas Colorado is in last.

“Our scout team has really been helping us this week, so we know what kind of offense to be prepared for,” Wieben said.

Medders agreed, saying although the Cyclones won’t see Colorado’s typical triangle offense, they feel they can handle whatever the Buffaloes throw their way.

“They have a new coach, but we’re used to a lot of the triangle offense that they’ve run in the past two years,” Medders said. “I don’t think it’ll be too tricky either way.”

Medders, who missed most of the Jan. 11 Texas game because of back spasms, played 37 minutes against Nebraska, logging 27 points, although the decision to play wasn’t made until game time.

This time around, she knows she’ll be in.

“I’m feeling fine,” Medders said. “I’ll practice Friday and play Saturday. I’m doing alright.”

Iowa State won the last meeting in Boulder, 76-64. Saturday’s tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.