Although Liberty may not be the same caliber of opponent as Xavier or Virginia, ISU men’s basketball head coach Wayne Morgan said he knows he cannot look past Saturday’s game against the Flames.

“Liberty’s a good team, they do good things,” Morgan said. “We’ve got to be concerned with everything they do, not just one or two things.”

Senior guard Jake Sullivan said he had a chance to see the Lynchburg, Va., school take on Duke earlier this year. Although the Flames were extinguished by the Blue Devils 76-47, Sullivan said he saw some good things.

“They play extremely hard and they have some really nice players,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said a main concern of his will be cutting off Liberty’s paths to the basket.

“I think we’re going to have to concentrate on containing penetration,” Sullivan said. “They looked like a team that’s capable of getting in the lane and creating some havoc in there.”

The Flames are led by 6-foot-8 senior forward Jason Sarchet, a native of Newell. Sarchet was the 1999 Class 1A Iowa high school player of the year.

Rebounding has been one of Iowa State’s weak points early in the season, but the Cyclones got out of their slump and outrebounded both of their opponents in last weekend’s Cyclone Challenge. Sullivan said controlling the boards will be instrumental in producing a win this weekend. Executing in half-court offense is another key.

“Obviously our rebounding is going to be a big key,” Sullivan said. “Offensive execution in the half-court set is also something we really need to improve on. We do a great job getting up and down the floor, but when we get in the half-court, we need to execute.”

With ISU students getting ready for finals next week, Morgan said his players will not be at a disadvantage in dealing with the pressure of final exams.

“Liberty’s got finals too, it’s not like we’re taking finals and they’re not,” Morgan said. “They may even have it tougher because they’re on the road and they still have finals yet.”

In their last game versus Idaho State, the Cyclones struggled getting their fast-break offense going early on, but were later able to score in transition. Sullivan said it’s situations like those when veteran leadership becomes very important.

“You’re going to have games where you get out and run, and you’ll have some games where you score in the 50s, that’s just the way it is,” Sullivan said. “That’s where we older guys have to come into effect and run our offense.”

Although his Cyclones haven’t had a difficult test so far this season — except for a close finish against Northern Iowa, which defeated No. 24 Iowa Tuesday — Sullivan said the team is in a good state right now.

“I think we’re improving. We haven’t had a good measuring stick yet, but we’ll find out more about ourselves as the year progresses,” Sullivan said. “We just have to execute offensively. It’s all about playing our game.”