ISU big-man Jared Homan is hoping to play in all of Saturday’s game at Colorado. When the Buffaloes visited Ames last season, a scuffle involving Colorado’s D.J. Harrison and ISU head coach Larry Eustachy ended with Homan leaving the bench and ultimately being ejected from the game.

Homan is a different player than he was last year, with the fire and intensity still burning bright, but he is backing up his emotion with skills and success down low.

Homan is putting in nearly eight points a game and pulling down nearly seven rebounds, but his recent play has been giving Iowa State a much-needed presence in the paint both defensively and offensively.

“Would I want to play against him? No,” guard Jake Sullivan said. “I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Among the aspects of Iowa State’s game that Eustachy is working on starts with Homan and Jackson Vroman on the inside.

“We will continue to try and get more of an inside presence,” Eustachy said.

“We should get our turnovers down and our defense isn’t nearly where it needs to be. We need to continue to work on our play-making and post passing. We’ve turned it over a lot against pressure teams.”

Iowa State (12-6, 2-5 Big 12) is heading into Saturday’s game coming off a home win against Baylor.

The Cyclones will be trying to do something only one team has done this year — win at Colorado. The last time Iowa State won a Big 12 road game was at Kansas State in 2001.

“It doesn’t get any easier, in my opinion,” Eustachy said about playing in the Big 12.

“Kansas State had Oklahoma beat, Colorado was right there at the wire with Missouri. We’re better and we’re more confident. But whether or not we’re going to win any games, I don’t know.”

The Buffaloes are 13-7 and 3-4, and have victimized both Texas and Kansas in Colorado this season.

The Buffaloes are lead by Michel Morandais, a junior from Guadeloupe, in the West Indies, that is putting up just over 17 points per game.

Colorado, much like Baylor, can hurt teams with three-point shooting, as well as the inside presence provided by David Harrison, the top shot blocker in the Big 12.

“We need to get players off the three-point line,” Eustachy said. “Guys like Morandais and Blair Wilson.”

Wilson rounds out a solid scoring presence for Colorado averaging 13.5 points per game. Stephane Pelle is nearly averaging a double-double for Colorado with 11 points and nine rebounds per game.

While Iowa State has shown major signs of improvement, Eustachy recognizes the amount of work left to get the team where he wants them to be — tough Big 12 competitors.

“The biggest thing is we can’t worry about getting anybody hurt and we’ve got to play like the first week of practice, because this team needs to get tougher,” Eustachy said.

“We need to put them in stressful situations where they get broken down and then build them back up.”

Iowa State returns home next Wednesday to host coach Bobby Knight and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.