It’s now the part of the season where you either win or go home.

With an 82-74 win over Georgia in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, the ISU men’s basketball team lived to see another day.

The next test in NIT play for the Cyclones comes in the form of the Florida State Seminoles, a team that finished seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season.

Though a seventh-place conference finish isn’t necessarily noteworthy, the six teams in front of the Seminoles received berths in the NCAA tournament and finished the year with spots in the top 25.

Florida State holds a 19-13 record with a 6-10 mark in conference play and has compiled a 4-10 record against ranked teams.

“They played a lot of good teams, and I think we did, too,” ISU senior guard Jake Sullivan said. “They’re a very good home team so we’re going to have to go and play well on the road.”

The Seminoles went 16-2 at home this year, their only losses coming at the hands of Duke and a North Carolina State team, that was No. 15 at the time.

Even with a homecourt advantage in favor of the Seminoles, the Cyclones said they expect to advance to the next round of tournament play.

“We’re going down there expecting to win and assuming that we’ll win,” Sullivan said. “It’s going to be a tough game. We have to stop [Tim] Pickett; he’s probably their best player. If we can contain him and play our game, we should come home with a victory.”

Pickett is the only Seminole to average in double figures, scoring nearly 17 points per game. He is also second in rebounds and third on his squad in assists.

“He’s the key to the game, no question, and [Alexander] Johnson, their one big guy,” Sullivan said. “Between those two guys, if we can stop them it will be an easier game for us and give us a chance to win, but you never know — anybody can step up on a given night.”

With Florida State’s inside game being rather thin, Iowa State will try to take advantage of the play of their big men.

“That’s where we should dominate the game [is inside],” Sullivan said. “They only really have one big guy, and if he gets in foul trouble, they don’t have very many other big guys. They have mostly guys who play on the perimeter.”

ISU head coach Wayne Morgan said Florida State’s ability to shoot the three will be a major concern.

“They have four guys shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line,” Morgan said. “They have a very good shooting team.”

Against Georgia, Iowa State proved that it too has a good shooting team, shooting 74.4 percent from the field, a new school record for field-goal percentage. Sullivan said those little things they did to win will be the keys to success once again.

“We have to do what we did against Georgia — move the ball, take good shots, be patient and not turn it over,” he said. “If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

Morgan has a special connection with the Seminoles, as he is close friends with Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton. Morgan said much of the Seminoles’ success this season can be credited to Hamilton.

“Leonard’s done a terrific job,” Morgan said. “He’s the James Brown of college basketball, the hardest working man in college basketball.”

The winner of Tuesday’s Iowa State-Florida State matchup will play the Marquette-Boise State winner on Thursday.

Tipoff against Florida State is 6 p.m.

— The Associated Press contributed to this article