Cyclones head coach Steve Prohm isn’t pleased with Iowa State’s home performances. Ask the Cyclone players and fans, and neither are they. In one of the team’s best seasons of the Prohm era, the mood has turned sour after two straight home defeats.

The best antidote for frustration? Well, a win at TCU on Thursday might do the trick.

The Cyclones face Texas Christian (TCU) at 1 p.m. Saturday with a chance to continue their road success, having won four of six away from home in conference play.

The Horned Frogs have been on a three-game losing streak since beating Iowa State Feb. 9, including a loss to the struggling Oklahoma State Cowboys in their most recent outing. In two of those losses, TCU has been without forward Kouat Noi, who is expected to return on Saturday.

In the Cyclones’ first meeting with TCU, Noi scored 17 points and hit three 3-pointers. Noi also had seven rebounds, and with an increased amount of attention on Iowa State’s rebounding woes, how the Cyclones handle the boards will be important. 

“We just gotta go to work,” Prohm said. “We’re top three or four in basically every single category [in the Big 12], outside of rebounding and free throws.

“Rebounding-wise, that’s our one achilles’ heel.”

After calling in to question Iowa State’s toughness Tuesday night, Prohm reiterated that Iowa State needs to execute to be the best team it can be.

Redshirt junior forward Michael Jacobson added that all five players on the floor needed to focus on getting the rebound after a defensive stop.

“It’s simple,” Jacobson said. “I mean, bigs gotta check their guys off, guards gotta rebound down.”

A bright spot for the Cyclones in the loss to Baylor was the increased shooting from Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton hit three of his four attempts from 3-point range after Prohm and former Cyclone Monte Morris said the freshman should be more aggressive on the offensive end of the floor. 

Haliburton taking more shots could help Iowa State mitigate some of the cold spells the team has gone through in the Big 12 season. The Cyclones went five-plus minutes without a field goal late in the second half against Baylor, in a spell reminiscent of their cold streak in a road loss to Kansas. 

Iowa State can’t let one of those cold spells strike against TCU, as the Horned Frogs put up 92 on the Cyclones’ defense in their first meeting. The Horned Frogs’ ball movement, led by Big 12 assists leader Alex Robinson, has them tops in the Big 12 in assists per game and third in scoring offense. 

The return of Noi makes the TCU attack more potent, and will put more pressure on the Cyclones to stop dribble penetration and kickouts, something they’ve struggled with recently.

“I think we know that if we’re right we can beat anybody,” Jacobson said. “But if we’re not right, clearly we can get beat by anybody too.”

After having their toughness questioned and their weaknesses laid bare, a road win over TCU for the Cyclones would be a step back in the right direction.