Bragging rights will be on the line Saturday night when the ISU men’s basketball team travels to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes.

The two rivals enter the game on a nearly identical level. Both teams are 6-0 and the Cyclones are ranked 25th in the Associated Press poll, just one spot ahead of Iowa.

The contest will be a step up in competition for the Cyclones, who are coming off a 89-74 victory over Tennessee Tech Tuesday.

Dating back to last season, the Cyclones are 35-3 in their last 38 games, the second best winning percentage in the nation behind Duke.

“This is a great game for us, we need to play a game like this,” said ISU men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy.

“This is what we need right now, to go play a top 25 team in a hostile environment. I’m very impressed with Iowa, they’re extremely well coached and we’re vast underdogs in this game.

“Tim Floyd used to always say that it’s just another game. Well it’s not another game, I know that, and I’m not going to go out on a limb and say that. It’s a big game, particularly to everyone in the state, and we understand that,” he said.

Balanced scoring has been the spark to the Cyclones undefeated start. Six players are averaging double figures, led by senior post player Martin Rancik who sports an average 15.3 points per game.

The Hawkeyes are led by Arizona transfer Luke Recker, who is pouring in 19.5 points per game, and Reggie Evans, a junior college transfer. Evans has been a force in the post for the Hawkeyes, averaging 17.2 points and 13.2 rebounds a game.

“He’s (Evans) awesome, he doubles-doubles every time he comes out on the floor,” Eustachy said. “He’s relentless, very active, and he’s going to be very difficult to keep off the boards.”

“Recker is a pro. He’s not one-dimensional, he’s good at mid-range, he can shoot the three and he can dunk. He got elbowed the other night against Tulsa and he fired the ball right back at the Tulsa player and I thought that was great. He’s got a lot of toughness,” he added.

While Recker brings toughness and tenacity to the floor, Eustachy would like to see his team get tougher and play more physical.

“We don’t have the physicalness,” Eustachy said. “I don’t want to use the word soft anymore, we’ve passed soft. We’re not hard though either. What’s between soft and hard? Jell-O? We’re Jell-O, but we’re getting harder and tougher, it’ll just take some time.”