Home, sweet home.

After two consecutive road games, the ISU men’s basketball team returns Sunday to a sold-out Hilton Coliseum, hosting Nebraska. The Cyclones split their two-game road-trip, defeating then-No. 2 Kansas, and dropping their most recent match, a 75-59 trouncing against Texas A&M. The loss snapped Iowa State’s seven-game conference winning streak.

A win on Sunday may be no easy task, as the Cornhuskers (12-12, 5-8 Big 12) arrive in Ames having just upset No. 4 Oklahoma State 74-67.

In their loss to Texas A&M, the Cyclones (15-9, 7-6) went more than 13 minutes without a basket in the second half. Nebraska took advantage of a similar situation against the Cowboys, who failed to score on their first eight possessions in the second half.

The first time they met this year, in Lincoln, Iowa State defeated the Cornhuskers 65-60. Sophomore Curtis Stinson led the way, logging 25 points, four assists and five steals. He leads the team, averaging 17.6 points per game.

ISU coach Wayne Morgan said Stinson has been a good influence on the young Cyclone team.

“Curtis has shown great leadership,” he said in a teleconference on Monday. “I think other kids on our team can draw confidence and inspiration from Curtis.”

Nebraska assistant coach Doug Novsek said he expects to see a better Cyclone team than the one that came to Lincoln with a 3-5 conference record. Since winning at Nebraska, Iowa State is 4-1 in the Big 12.

“It will be the same team, if not better than before,” Novsek said. “We’re anticipating them being one of the better teams in the conference.”

He said Nebraska has had a hard time preparing for Iowa State’s trap defense, simply because his athletes are not as quick as Iowa State’s.

“It’s tough to simulate what they do,” Novsek said. “They’re just very, very good at what they do. They anticipate very well, and they have very smart players.”

Novsek said having completely healthy players will benefit the Cornhuskers this time around. Center Aleks Maric, who played only five minutes against the Cyclones because of the flu, is healthy this time around. Maric had a career-high 15 points against the Cowboys.

“We’ve got some guys who did not play much in the game, who were not in the game, that we expect to step up,” Novsek said.

Even before Sunday’s tip-off, emotions are swirling. Morgan said his team’s mentality on the court took some getting used to at the beginning of the season, but it has only benefited its morale.

“They will jump on each other hard, but then they’ll hug after,” he said. “It’s just what their personality is, and it’s something that I had to learn to accept.”

Despite the NIT and NCAA tournament talk, Morgan said it is important for the Cyclones to keep their one-game-at-a-time attitude, and ignore whatever tags have been given to them.