Jake Sullivan had a grizzled look after Iowa State’s loss to Texas Tech. His face wasn’t the only thing that was rough around the edges Wednesday.

The Cyclones will once again try to break out of the funk that has plagued them during the Big 12 season at No. 10 Kansas Sunday. Iowa State was even with Bobby Knight’s crew for a half, playing them to an even 46-46 tie, but fell apart soon thereafter, falling 88-73.

Sullivan said afterwards — in so many words — it’s time to put up or get out for him and his teammates.

“If you want to put your head down and quit, go home,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got seven games left that we think we can win and if you don’t think we can go into Kansas and play, don’t get on the plane.”

Sullivan even questioned his teammates’ enjoyment for the game and their commitment to the team.

“What’s ticking me off is we don’t have 13 guys on this team bringing it night in and night out, and not even the games, to practice every single day and making a commitment to this team as a whole,” Sullivan said. “I don’t care if you make mistakes or miss shots — I care if you want to bring the energy, the enthusiasm and the toughness to every game. Until we do, this will continue to happen.”

Sullivan, who had seven three-pointers against the Red Raiders, combined with forward Jackson Vroman for 53 of Iowa State’s points. Sullivan and Vroman had all 16 of Iowa State’s points at the 13:33 mark in the first half.

Despite being triple-teamed at times, Vroman went 12-of-16 from the floor, including 10 points in the first seven minutes. He mixed jock-losing fakes with putbacks on offensive rebounds for a season-high 24 points.

“He’s a product of his practices and he’s worked hard,” ISU head coach Larry Eustachy said. “He’s part of the solution.”

Sullivan said Vroman was one exception in his fever-pitched rant and has been practicing what Eustachy preaches.

“He’s been buying into coach and that’s what we’ve talked about — if you buy into coach, you’ll have more success,” Sullivan said. “He’s been listening to what the coaching staff has to tell him and he’s been doing a great job right now. He did bring energy tonight and played extremely hard.

“But one, two, three or four guys — that’s not going to do it. [We need to have] thirteen guys from the first guy out on the floor to the last guy on the bench.”

Eustachy echoed Sullivan’s sentiments, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Texas Tech shot a scorching 64 percent against the Cyclones, just one week after Colorado shot more than 50 percent in the previous loss.

“The commitment to the defensive end is lip service and we’re working hard to correct it,” Eustachy said. “I think we’ve gotten to the bottom of our team, the last couple days we have, so it’s going to take a while.”

Just how long it will take to get a win remains to be seen, but there may still be light at the end of the tunnel. After Kansas, Iowa State plays five of its last six games against teams in the bottom half of the conference.

Currently, Iowa State is one of those teams. At just 2-7 in the Big 12 and 12-8 overall, the Cyclones are in the 10th slot.

The Jayhawks (18-5, 8-1 Big 12) soared out to a 20-point lead in the first eight minutes when they defeated the Cyclones 83-54 in Ames on Jan. 6.

This time, the game will be played at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

Vroman said he and his teammates can’t think about any of that.

“We’ve just got to go in there thinking we can win,” Vroman said. “We’ve got to string together some good practices the next couple days to even have a shot.”

Sullivan said it will be a long seven games and a quick exit from the Big 12 tournament if the team doesn’t improve. Until it does, Sullivan said he’ll keep spouting off.

“I’m going to keep saying it, I’m going to keep bringing it and I’m going to keep buying into coach more than I’ve ever bought into coach,” Sullivan said. “It’s just buying in and leading these guys as much as I can. Hopefully they start getting the message or this is going to continue to happen.”