Just hours after defeating Oklahoma in a game Head Coach Tim Floyd described as his teams “best performance of the year,” the fourth-ranked Cyclones head for Lawrence, Kansas to prepare for what could be their toughest game of the year.

After only a day’s rest, Iowa State face top ranked Kansas tonight, in a nationally televised battle for the top slot in the Big 12..

“I hope that the Kansas Baylor game this afternoon goes into triple overtime,” Floyd joked at the post game press conference saturday. “Kansas has it all. That’s why they’re number one. They have depth at every position.”

The Jayhawks are first in the Big 12 in four categories, including field goal percentage, defense, scoring and rebounding. They are 16-0 with an average victory margin of 24.3 points.

In order to stay in tonight’s game, Floyd said his team would have to prevent Kansas from making transition baskets.

“We need to get a couple of good workouts in before the game,” he said. “That’s very key. It is very difficult to prepare for a team like Kansas in only two days.”

Floyd also commented on the talent of many of Kansas’ NBA bound players, including Paul Pierce, who is second on the team in scoring percentage with 15.7 average. Iowa native Raef LaFrentz leads the team with a 17.3 average.

“As much energy as Bankhead used today, he’s going to need it in guarding Paul Pierce,” Floyd said. “You hear a lot about Vaughn and LaFrentz for MVP, but Pierce should get some votes.”

The last time the Cyclones faced Kansas was the championship game of the Big 8 tournament last year. Iowa State defeated the Jayhawks in a 56-55 triumph, led by Jacy Holloway’s key three-point basket in the closing seconds of the game.

But Holloway said he tends to look back at the team’s losses against Kansas, rather than the upset victory in the Big Eight tournament.

“I try to correct what went wrong in my mind,” he said.

“Coach has a good game plan against Kansas and it’s worked before. We just have to try and put that in before Monday night.”

Cyclone forward Kenny Pratt, who scored 20 points the last time Iowa State faced Kansas, has no worries about tonight’s game in Lawrence.

“He’s going to have us prepared,” Pratt said about Floyd. “We don’t feel we have anything to prove to the rankings, we just want to prove ourselves to coach.”

“It’s going to be a hard fought game,” he added.

“It’s going to be a game full of defense.”