Iowa State’s Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock combine to make one of the top guard duos in the Big 12 Conference.

Iowa’s Jeff Horner, Adam Haluska and Pierre Pierce make one of the top backcourts in the Big Ten.

Friday night these two dynamic groups will collide when Iowa State (4-1) travels to face intrastate rival Iowa (7-1).

Iowa State knocked off the Hawkeyes 84-76 last season in Ames, but this year’s Iowa squad is loaded with new talent and has already proven itself against tough competition.

Haluska, who transferred from Iowa State, and Erek Hansen add strength to an Iowa team that has already knocked off Louisville and Texas this year. Iowa’s only loss came at the hands of No. 8 North Carolina.

“They have three strong guards and have played against big-time competition, so they know how to play and they know what they need to do to win,” said ISU guard John Neal. “They have good guards and they have good big [players], but we feel that we have good players, too, and that we have a good chance to win.”

Iowa State will enter the game fresh off an upset win Monday over No. 19 Virginia at Hilton Coliseum.

Although the Cyclones have only lost once in Ames since Wayne Morgan took over as head coach last season, Iowa State has had problems winning away from Hilton’s friendly confines.

“Any win we can get on the road will be a good one for us,” Morgan said. “We haven’t won many games on the road, and we’re going to try to change that this year. It will be a highly competitive game and hopefully we can be fortunate to win.”

This game will also be an initiation for many of Iowa State’s fresh faces.

“They have a talented team and I think we do as well,” said senior center Jared Homan. “It will be in Iowa City with a hostile crowd, the first real extremely hostile crowd for a lot of these new guys.”

To come home with back-to-back wins over the Hawkeyes, this Cyclone team knows they need to stop Horner, Haluska and Pierce.

“They all bring a different style to the team,” Stinson said. “Horner can stroke it very well, Pierce is a great slasher, and Haluska can shoot it. They defend well and then they have the big guys inside. Those three guys are great players.”

Complimenting Iowa’s three guards is another strong duo in Hansen and Greg Brunner.

“I think Brunner is very good,” Morgan said. “He’s hard to guard and he’ll cause us some problems, and we will have to concentrate on that. Hansen is greatly improved. We may not have faced a shotblocker of his magnitude yet.”

Hansen leads the Big Ten with 25 blocks in Iowa’s first eight games.

With the emotions for the intrastate game already high, this could be one of the more physical games either team has played to this point.

Homan has been whistled for intentional fouls in Iowa State’s past two games, and some are worried that Iowa’s hostile environment may be brought heavily against him if he commits another hard foul.

Although the officials thought Homan crossed a line, his coach saw both of Homan’s fouls as good, hard basketball plays.

“I don’t think he committed any intentional fouls,” Morgan said. “If you watch the film like we did, you will see that both times he was going for the ball and was trying to block the shot.”

Morgan also said that one referee came to him after the game and told him the intentional foul was the wrong call.

“He plays hard,” Morgan said. “If you turn around and look at some of the fouls committed on him, they are just as hard or harder.”

After facing Iowa, the Cyclones will have just one day off before taking on Howard on Sunday in Ames. The Bison are 3-3 and sit atop the Mid-Eastern Conference. Game time is set for 2 p.m.