The end of the regular season is here for Iowa State men’s basketball.

This will not be the last time Iowa State plays a game this season, but it will be the last game without amplified implications as the Big 12 tournament begins March 9.

It’s been a roller-coaster of a season for T.J. Otzelberger in his first year. His team ran through the non-conference with a 12-0 record and found themselves ranked No. 8 in the nation before slipping to 3-9 in the Big 12 at one point.

And now, they end conference play how it began — a matchup with the Baylor Bears.

The Cyclones welcomed then-No. 1 Baylor to town Jan. 1 and fell 72-77. Even with their first loss of the season, there was still a sense of optimism that a team that won two games the prior season could hang around and be in the game late against the defending national champion.

Now, Otzelberger has navigated his way through the 12-0 start, the 3-9 start to Big 12 play and a recent four-game win streak that was snapped in startling fashion in the Cyclones’ loss to Oklahoma State, a game they shot under 30 percent and only mustered 36 points in the game.

Baylor had LJ Cryer score 13 points in the Jan. 1 meeting and got solid post minutes from Jonathon Tchamwa Tchatchoua. Neither of them are in the rotation for the Bears on Saturday due to injury, though there’s a chance Cryer returns Saturday.

In Baylor’s last game, it played a seven-man rotation with six of those players playing over 25 minutes. Still, the Bears have put themselves in a position to win the Big 12 regular season title with a win against the Cyclones Saturday.

As for the Cyclones, they’ve also undergone some rotation changes since New Year’s Day.

Tristan Enaruna scored a team-high (and career-high) 23 points against the Bears on Jan. 1 and has seen his role diminished significantly since then.

Tre Jackson’s 10 minutes against Baylor aren’t likely to be replicated either Saturday as Jackson didn’t see the floor against Oklahoma State with Jaden Walker continuing to see his role expand as Jackson’s dissipates.

While both teams’ personnel have changed since their last meeting, the Bears are still the defending champions and look to be quite the challenge for Iowa State come Saturday.

One of the main downfalls of Iowa State in their first meeting with Baylor was the three-point shooting. The Cyclones made just one of their 14 attempts from deep compared to the Bears shooting 41 percent from long-range.

T.J. Otzelberger is no stranger to his team experiencing power outages on offense at times this season, a perfect indicator of how bad it can get came in their most recent game, scoring a new record-low in Hilton Coliseum for the second time this season.

Preaching defense has often been the message from Otzelberger, and he may need another defensive gem as the Cyclones walk into Waco with one more tune-up before the Big 12 tournament begins.

Baylor (25-5 overall, 13-4 Big 12) and Iowa State (20-10 overall, 7-10 Big 12) tip off at 5 p.m. from Waco Saturday. The game can be seen on ESPN2.