The end is finally here for the ISU men’s basketball team.

It’s not the end of the season — Big 12 play is just getting under way — but the Cyclones are entering the final game of a four-game run against ranked opponents when they face No. 21 Missouri tonight in Columbia, Mo.

The run of games has seen Cyclone losses at home to No. 6 Kansas, at No. 4 Texas and at home Saturday against No. 7 Oklahoma, 70-60.

There aren’t many highlights from these games on the surface, but the young Cyclone team has built confidence and learned a lot about Big 12 play from the losses, according to head coach Larry Eustachy.

“I thought we’ve made some tremendous strides since our first game in the league,” Eustachy said. “This team will get better, play harder and when the chips fall right, we’ll win some games.”

Those that have made strides, according to Eustachy, include freshman Adam Haluska, who scored 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from downtown against Oklahoma, and junior Chris Alexander, who pulled down 10 boards and scored nine in 27 minutes off the bench on Saturday.

“It’s going to give us a little more confidence, they’re a great team, a top-10 team, and we played right with them,” Haluska said about Oklahoma. “We’re a good team and we’re going to keep our heads up.”

Junior point guard Tim Barnes, who has shown signs of inexperience and genius at times, was just 1-for-8 from the field with three points, four assists and four turnovers against the Sooners.

“Tim has to get tougher. He’s got to get tougher in practice, then he’ll get tougher in the game,” Eustachy said. “We desperately need him to make some tremendous strides, like some of the other guys.”

Despite Iowa State’s close play against Oklahoma, where the Cyclones stayed even with the Sooners, 36-36, in the second half, and a 2-1 road record, things won’t get any easier for Iowa State as Missouri is coming off two upset losses to Syracuse and Oklahoma State.

“This will be two hungry teams — they’re coming off two losses,” junior Jake Sullivan said. “We’re confident, we’ve got to keep our heads up, we have to stay real confident, real focused about what’s going on.”

Missouri, 10-3 and 1-1 in the Big 12, will be missing leading scorer and assist man Ricky Clemons who has been suspended indefinitely because of a charge of second-degree domestic assault, which he has denied.

Rickey Paulding and Arthur Johnson will have to pick up the slack for Clemons. Both are averaging 17 points a game and Johnson pulls down just under ten boards a game.

Iowa State, 10-4 and 0-3 in the Big 12, outrebounded the Sooners and managed to make seven of 13 three-point attempts. Sullivan continues to lead the team at more than 18 points a game and junior Jackson Vroman is grabbing just over nine rebounds a game, to lead the Cyclones.

“We had good practices this week and I thought we played better than the last game,” Vroman said after the Oklahoma game. “I don’t know if closeness really matters. It all comes down to wins and losses.”

Eustachy, who said earlier in the season that wins and losses won’t measure this team’s improvement through the rough early-season schedule, is happy with the way his team has responded to the tough matchups.

“They were all ears. They were the most attentive I’ve ever had them after the game,” Eustachy said. “They’re trying. A good team like [Oklahoma] breaks them down. It’s what it is. It’s a bunch of young, new guys, finding their way.”

After finding their way to Missouri tonight, the Cyclones will play host to Nebraska this Saturday.

“We played really well [against Oklahoma],” Sullivan said. “Now it’s just a matter of putting it together and getting all five guys on the same page out on the floor.”