The ISU men’s basketball team gets to test its tournament legs this weekend in the 2003 Cyclone Challenge.

Although the competition may not be as tough as the Big 12 Tournament or NCAA Championship, head coach Wayne Morgan said the Cyclone Challenge will be a good experience for his team to look back on come postseason time, with the Cyclones having to play two games in two days.

“I think there’s a value in having a tournament like this for us,” Morgan said. “In the Big 12 Tournament, you play every 24 hours or less.”

Friday’s games will see the Cyclones take on Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne and Arkansas-Little Rock versus Idaho State, with the winners and losers of each game playing each other on Saturday. Win or lose, Iowa State will play at 7:30 p.m. both evenings.

Morgan said playing two games with a short turnaround time may be draining on his team, but he doesn’t see it as a concern.

“I think it’ll be a little bit taxing, but the thing that saves us is that the other teams have to play two games in two days also,” Morgan said.

Senior center Jackson Vroman said one game right after the other won’t be a problem for him.

“I don’t think games are a lot more physically demanding than our two- to three-hour practices, so we’ll be all right,” Vroman said.

With each of their three opponents having already played four games, Morgan said his 2-0 Cyclones may have a bit of a disadvantage.

“I think there is a little bit of an advantage there,” Morgan said. “Their teams have more experience in terms of game situations, but we’ll make those games up as the year goes along.”

Iowa State’s first opponent, IPFW, totes a 0-4 record, but two of the Mastodons’ losses have come in the waning seconds of the game. Vroman said they won’t be playing like a winless team.

“They’ll work a lot on finishing games and be well prepared for us,” Vroman said.

Should the Cyclones end up playing Idaho State in the second game, it would be a reunion for Vroman and his former point guard at Snow Junior College, Idaho State’s Jeff Gardner. Vroman said he looks forward to the possibility of playing his former teammate.

“It would be awesome,” Vroman said. “Jeff’s a great guy; he played point guard for one year with me and I really enjoyed playing with him.”

With both Idaho State and Arkansas-Little Rock sporting 2-2 records, Morgan said he expects a tough game out of each team and has no preference on which team the Cyclones play.

“We expect them to come in here and compete and play hard and try to win two games,” Morgan said.

“We’re not going to pick a team we would rather face because we have respect for both opponents, but I’m hopeful that we’re in a position to face the winner.”