The ISU men’s basketball team is still searching for its first conference road win in its last 14 tries, and will try to get over that hump tonight at Texas A&M.

“We need a win desperately, but so do they, with what they’re trying to do,” head coach Larry Eustachy said. “Again, we’re catching a team that’s coming off a loss that will be very, very difficult to beat.”

Eustachy is sitting on a 2-0 record at College Station and said his team is the best it’s been all season. The only problem is, so are Melvin Watkins’ Aggies and the rest of the Big 12 teams.

“Melvin’s done a great job,” Eustachy said. “They’ve got some great players. They’ve proven it by some of the wins they’ve had.”

Texas A&M, 12-9 and 4-6 in the Big 12, has wins at home over Texas Tech, Missouri and Kansas State under its belt but is coming off a 98-83 loss at Colorado. Winning at home is something the team has really focused on this season.

“We need to take care of games at home,” Watkins said. “Iowa State comes in, a team that can beat us if we don’t play well. Being at home, we need to come out and play some of our best basketball. If we do that then I feel like we will be successful.”

The Aggies are led by senior Bernard King, who recently broke former Iowa State star Marcus Fizer’s Big 12 Conference career scoring record. King is putting up just under 18 points a game.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Watkins said. “He’s done a lot for our program but you look at his numbers, it’s amazing what he has accomplished here. I know some of that has been because we haven’t been a winning program and I know that has kind of shaded some of the things.”

Texas A&M also sports the top-scoring freshman in the league, Antoine Wright, who puts in over 16 points a game and pulls in a team-high seven rebounds per game. Iowa State freshman Adam Haluska is the second-leading scorer among Big 12 freshmen at just over 10 points a game.

One problem plaguing Iowa State all year has been defending the perimeter, something the team has continued to work and focus on in practice.

“We’ve got to get to the shooters, contest shots and limit teams to one shot,” Eustachy said. “We’ve got to stop them in transition.”

Iowa State, 12-9 and 2-8 in the Big 12, is coming off a 70-51 debacle at Kansas and is looking to rebound. It will start down low with consistent play from both big men, Jared Homan and Jackson Vroman.

After scoring 24 points against Texas Tech last week, Vroman notched just one point against Kansas after getting into foul trouble.

Junior captain Jake Sullivan continues to lead the team with over 18 points a game. He needs just four points to move ahead of Dedric Willoughby to No. 18 on the all-time Iowa State scoring list.

Eustachy, during Monday’s Big 12 teleconference, expressed his feelings about playing the Aggies while riding in his mobile-home on a recruiting trip in Texas.

“We’re watching Texas A&M right now as a matter of fact,” Eustachy said. “I’m about to turn it off. It just scares the heck out of me. I may turn this cruiser around.

“Texas A&M is [an NCAA] tournament possibility team,” Eustachy said. “They’re that good.”