After a two-game road swing that found the men’s basketball team still searching for its first conference road win of the season, the men return home to host Kansas State on Saturday.

Iowa State, 12-10 and 2-9 in the Big 12, is coming off a 66-54 loss at Texas A&M where the team went without a field goal for more than eight minutes during a stint in the second half.

“I wish we knew the answers,” Iowa State’s leading scorer Jake Sullivan said about the team’s lapses in the second half. “It’s real hard but we’re staying together, trying to go out and give it our all for 40 minutes.”

After making 52 percent of their shots in the first half, Iowa State dropped to 30 percent shooting in the second half.

“They were tougher than us,” Sullivan told The Associated Press after the game. “That’s about as simple as you can get it. They were ripping balls away from us. We’ve been in that position a lot this year where we just can’t close it out. We just can’t maintain the level we have to maintain.”

The strong first-half shooting had Iowa State out to a 38-32 halftime lead, but head coach Larry Eustachy knew the team needed to make a change, which they never did.

“I knew it was short-lived,” Eustachy said after the game of the halftime lead. “We weren’t competing. I told them if we play the same way in the second half we won’t win, and I was right.”

After starting Big 12 play 2-2, the Wildcats have lost six of their last seven in the conference, including a home win over Colorado and a home loss to Baylor.

Kansas State, 12-12 and 3-8 in Big 12 play, likes to spread the ball around as all five starters are averaging over 10 points per game. Senior Gilson DeJesus is the team’s leading scorer at just over 11 points a game but leads the Big 12 in shooting percentage from beyond the arc at 46.9 percent.

Iowa State will look for consistent play from big men Jared Homan and Jackson Vroman, who are both playing more extended minutes with the loss of Chris Alexander, who withdrew from the team and school last week. “It’s hard on them but that’s part of being tough,” Sullivan said about the lack of depth down low. “They’re getting through it, they’re taking it pretty well.”

Eustachy has thrown Clint Varley, Andrew Skoglund and occasionally Omar Bynum in the game to give Vroman and Homan rests. But Sullivan isn’t sure whether Bynum, who started 22 games last season, will be seeing more minutes as the season goes on. “That is a decision that is totally up to coach,” Sullivan said. “All we need to win is five guys, that’s how we look at it.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.