Cyclone Coach Larry Eustachy knows rivalries.

“I went to Utah, where there’s Utah vs. BYU, which is the all-time rivalry because religion is involved,” Eustachy joked after the Cyclones’ 57-56 victory over Drake Tuesday night.

Eustachy also grew up watching the University of Southern California vs. University of California Los Angeles rivalry, which is rated one of the top five in the country, and coached at Mississippi State, which has a notorious rivalry with Ole Miss.

“Ask Jim Walden; it’s bitter, it’s nasty,” Eustachy said. “So I understand how important this game is to everybody. I’m not going to sit here and say this is another game. It’s obviously the most important non-conference game we play.”

Iowa State faces Iowa at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City Saturday night. While the Cyclones have won two straight at Carver, they are coming off a 60-59 loss to the Hawkeyes in Ames last year.

“This is always a good, tough match-up, the toughest of all the in-state rivalries,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said in a press conference Thursday.

“Iowa State returns so many players. They have also added six players, some of whom are playing really prominent roles. That should get the attention of our players,” he said.

Iowa is heading into Saturday’s game coming off one Davis’s biggest victories of his career. The Hawks upset the Kansas Jayhawks 85-81 in Lawrence Tuesday night.

Eleven players scored for Iowa in the game, including newcomers Jacob Jaacks, Duez Henderson, Jason Price and Joey Range. Senior guard Kent McCausland, who is 17-30 from behind the arc this season, lead the Hawks with 15.

With forward Martin Rancik still recovering from a Dec. 4 ankle injury, the Cyclones are using only nine players, five of whom are guards.

However, Davis said Iowa State’s lack of depth will not be a factor.

“You certainly look at (Marcus Fizer) because of his All-American status,” Davis said. “(Michael) Nurse in the back court has strengthened that for them, and they return experience in the front court.”

Eustachy said he is concerned about Iowa’s full-court press, which killed the Cyclones last year when the team used all of its time outs in the first half.

Drake also benefited from the press against the Cyclones in avenging a 15-point deficit Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

“We’ve worked on that for a long time now,” Eustachy said. “We’re not strong with the ball on our heels. We don’t swing through. You have to realize, this team is minimal. We have no margin for error.”

Cyclone forward Stevie Johnson, who had 15 points against Iowa last year and nine as a freshman, said his team is more prepared for the Hawks this year.

“We’ve gotten a lot stronger in handling the press.” Johnson said. “It’s going to be pretty hard to play down there, but we just have to continue to concentrate and keep our mind focussed.”

Iowa State has added pressure to beat Iowa following Cyclone victories in football and women’s basketball.

“Our fans love us so much that they hate Iowa,” junior guard Michael Nurse said. “They’d love to see us go up there and pull off a victory.”