Only one game separates Nebraska and Iowa State in the Big 12 Conference standings.

For that reason, Cyclone fans should expect a dogfight at 1 p.m. Saturday as the two teams will go at it in a nationally televised game on Fox Sports Net from Hilton Coliseum.

In Iowa State’s Big 12 opener Jan. 10, the Cornhuskers had a solid performance from junior point guard Jina Johansen as Nebraska (16-7, 6-6 Big 12) won 62-57 in Lincoln.

ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said he knows what his team has to do to win this time.

“I thought we defended really pretty well for the first Big 12 game,” Fennelly said. “Nebraska is very experienced. They start four seniors. [They have] good size and good rebounding. But the two issues that really hurt us were things that have hurt us all year — we didn’t shoot in that game, [we had] too many turnovers and we went through periods where we couldn’t score.”

Iowa State (12-11, 5-7) led 35-30 in the first half, but Nebraska’s Jessica Gerhart scored the last four points of the half to trim the lead to 35-34 at halftime.

The Cyclones had some periods in the second half where they didn’t score, including the first six minutes.

Junior guard Anne O’Neil had a game-high 18 points and junior forward Lisa Kriener added 16 points. Redshirt sophomore Brittany Wilkins recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Iowa State only made 3 of 18 3-point shots, but in the last three games, the Cyclones have made at least 12 threes per game.

Freshman guard Megan Ronhovde said the Cyclones have learned a lot since their first meeting with the Cornhuskers.

“These last three games, we’ve improved a lot,” Ronhovde said.

“We’ve been doing some things that we haven’t done previously. I think it’s going to help going into Saturday coming off of two big wins. Nebraska has been playing really well. They played well against us.”

Fennelly said he won’t have to do anything before the game to get his team excited.

“I told the staff on the way from Kansas, considering what’s happened the last three games and what’s going to happen on Saturday, I seriously doubt there needs to be any rah-rah speeches before the game Saturday,” Fennelly said.

“If you can’t be motivated at this point [for] what’s at stake, nothing I’m going to say to them is going to make a difference. They’ll be really excited to play.”