The ISU men’s basketball seniors have one last shot to get a Big 12 Conference road win.

The team’s road losing streak has spanned three years and 24 long trips. Winning Saturday won’t be an easy task when the Cyclones travel to Lubbock, Texas, to face Texas Tech in a nationally televised 12:30 p.m. game.

“We’ve got one more chance to go out and win on the road,” senior Jake Sullivan said. “It’s an NCAA Tournament game. We still think we can get into the tournament at 8-8 in conference [play] and win two games in the Big 12 Tournament.”

Senior Jackson Vroman said Saturday’s game is important for two reasons.

“One, for postseason play, and No. 2, just to get the monkey off the back this season,” Vroman said. “We don’t want it to carry over into next season for these underclassmen.”

Texas Tech started out the Big 12 season strong, winning its first four games. Two of those victories were against conference champion Oklahoma State and then-No. 20 Oklahoma.

However, the Red Raiders have lost three of their last five games, including a 72-44 loss at Nebraska on Feb. 24.

The Raiders (20-9, 8-7 Big 12) are coming off an 87-76 win over Missouri Wednesday. This is the third straight 20-win season for Texas Tech under coach Bob Knight.

Senior Marcus Jefferson said playing against Knight is not a concern for the team.

“If you take both names off the jerseys, [the teams] still have to play each other,” Jefferson said. “It’s not really about Bob Knight, it’s about two teams trying to progress as the season goes on.”

To win, the Cyclones (16-10, 7-8) will probably have to hold Tech senior Andre Emmett to something less than his league-leading 21.2 points per game.

“Everybody has tried to stop him, and nobody has been able to,” head coach Wayne Morgan said.

Emmett, who is the Big 12’s career scoring leader with 2,170 points, has been named Big 12 Player of the Week five times this season.

“You can’t really shut him down,” Sullivan said. “He’s going to find a way to get his 18 [or] 20 points. You’ve just got to outplay their team and outplay the rest of their guys.”

Freshman guard Jarrius Jackson has also been hot for the Raiders the last four games, averaging 15.8 points per game.

“He’s a good point guard, and we’re going to have to try and stay ahead of him and play him,” Morgan said.

Iowa State is coming off an 83-77 win over Colorado Wednesday night. Trailing in the second half, Iowa State made a comeback in what has become typical Cyclone fashion to defeat the Buffaloes.

“I’d almost rather be behind going into the second half than ahead anymore,” junior Jared Homan said. “We’ve done it so many times, it’s comfortable for us to come back, take the lead and win the game.”

Sullivan said the team still has things it wants to accomplish.

“I don’t think anyone thought we’d be 16-10 and almost .500 in the league at the beginning of the year, so it’s been a great run but we’re nowhere near done yet,” Sullivan said.