Things won’t get any easier for Iowa State.

After dropping their first two conference games of the season — and losing two inside reserves Wednesday — the ISU men’s basketball team will find no breather ahead.

A road loss to Missouri on Saturday and Wednesday’s 71-66 setback to No. 2 Kansas drops the Cyclones to 0-2 in Big 12 play.

“Those are both winnable games,” ISU guard Will Blalock said. “We were 17-1 last year [at home], and we beat Kansas last year. It was a winnable game.

“We had that game in Missouri, too, we just didn’t execute with two to three minutes to go.”

Up next for the Cyclones is No. 6 Oklahoma State on Saturday in Stillwater. They’ll go there without Reggie George, who was dismissed from the team, and Robert Faulkner, who can’t dress pending an appeal of his grades.

The loss was only the second at Hilton Coliseum for Iowa State under Wayne Morgan, pushing his mark in Ames to 25-2.

The Cyclones outrebounded Kansas 36-32, with a plus-10 margin on the offensive glass.

Iowa State also forced 17 turnovers, scoring 18 points off those Kansas mistakes.

Even though the Cyclones outhustled Kansas, the Jayhawks kept an edge over Iowa State all game.

Iowa State took just one lead, a two-point advantage after two Curtis Stinson free throws with 7:44 to play.

Kansas hit 63.6 percent of their shots in the first half and were 54.3 percent from the floor on the game.

“They shot really well,” Blalock said. “There isn’t much you can do. They’re a great team and they shot the ball and those shots fell.

“There was nothing we could do about it. We played D. Our hands were up, they just made shots — tough shots.”

Even with their 0-2 start, head coach Morgan knows his team is on the verge of being good.

“I don’t think we’re far away,” Morgan said.

“All my kids are down in the locker room and their heads are down.

“That was my message to them. If we can get a little better and concentrate a little more, we will get to the point where we will start to win game after game.”

The Cyclones had toppled the then-No. 15 Jayhawks at Hilton Coliseum a year ago, 68-61.