ISU men’s basketball fans and players are hoping the next road game ends with a better outcome and less controversy than the last.

Iowa State is taking to the road again to face Nebraska at 3 p.m. Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

On its last road trip Saturday at Kansas, Iowa State had the chance to end its streak of conference road losses before an official’s mistake helped lead to the 90-89 overtime loss. ISU head coach Wayne Morgan contested the call, but the play and its aftermath were upheld by the Big 12 Conference.

Iowa State (15-9, 6-7 Big 12) is coming off a 75-69 win over Kansas State Wednesday night.

In their first meeting Jan. 10, Iowa State defeated Nebraska 89-74 behind senior Jake Sullivan’s seven 3-pointers.

“I’ve been playing well at home, and I have a lot of confidence here, but we’ve been playing better on the road so hopefully we can keep that up,” Sullivan said.

The Cyclones will have a tougher go at it this time around, having to play Nebraska at the Devaney Center. In three of their last four home games, the Cornhuskers have defeated Missouri (Feb. 7, 78-62), No. 12 Kansas (Feb. 15, 74-55) and No. 25 Texas Tech (Tuesday, 72-44). Nebraska also took then No. 7 Oklahoma State to overtime in Stillwater before eventually falling 87-83.

“Right now there is not a team in our league playing better than Nebraska at home,” head coach Wayne Morgan said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Nebraska’s hot streak doesn’t have Sullivan concerned.

“They’re playing extremely well, but we’re playing extremely well. We got a great win [Wednesday] so we’re as confident as they are,” Sullivan said.

“It’s going to be two good teams playing well, going against each other, and we don’t really care where it’s at. We’re going down there to try to win.”

Nebraska is led by Nate Johnson and Andrew Drevo, who average 13.1 and 11.6 points per game, respectively. The Huskers also have shooter Brian Conklin who leads the nation in 3-point percentage, making 56 percent of his shots from behind the arc.

The Huskers (15-9, 5-8) aren’t an offensively explosive team; rather, it is their defense that’s winning them games. Nebraska is leading the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 60 points per game, and also leads the conference in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 39.1 percent from the floor.

ISU senior Marcus Jefferson rejoined the team last week after a three-week absence for personal reasons. Jefferson suited up for the Kansas game Feb. 21 but did not play. His first minutes back on the floor were during the win against Kansas State.

“[Jefferson’s return] is very important, first of all, because he is part of our family and second of all, because everybody on our team loves him,” Morgan said. “While he was dealing with his situation, all of our hearts went out to him. We were certainly extremely happy to embrace him and have him back.”

Morgan said his team has really matured since the beginning of the season and is even a different team than a couple of weeks ago.

“The Nebraska team we’re going to play this Saturday is not the Nebraska team we played here earlier in the year, but we’re not the same Iowa State team,” Morgan said. “We’re better too, so it’s going to be interesting. I think it’s going to be a game.”