The NCAA Tournament.

A trajectory thought by those that follow Iowa State men’s basketball as ‘mad’ for T.J. Otzelberger’s squad in his first year of coaching. A team that won just two games last season was not seen as one that would find themselves in the “big dance” in one season.

But the Cyclones went on to win 12 straight games and rise as high as the eighth-ranked team in the nation ahead of a Jan. 1 game against then-No. 1 Baylor.

The trajectory shifted, and the NCAA tournament turned into more of a reality.

Now, 11 games into conference play, the Cyclones sit with a 3-8 record. This has taken place after some record-low offensive performances and a lack of the intensity and ‘competitive toughness’ that Otzelberger harped on so often early in the season.

As they enter the homestretch of conference play, their first matchup with the Kansas State Wildcats (12-11 overall, 4-7 in Big 12 play) becomes the first of what their head coach deems as ‘must-win’ games if hopes of playing meaningful basketball in March want to remain.

“We only have seven regular-season games to go,” Otzelberger said Friday. “I guess, from that standpoint, you could say that every game would be in the must-win category.”

Part of the criteria for must-win, in Otzelberger’s eyes, includes the concept of defending home-court.

Iowa State has a 12-3 record at Hilton Coliseum this season, but all three losses have come in conference play. They boast a 2-3 record at home since that Jan. 1 tilt with Baylor, and players have spoken about wanting to defend Hilton since the slide began.

The easy part of any desire is to speak about it. The hard part? Turning it into meaningful action.

That’s the piece of the equation Otzelberger emphasized when discussing the recent struggles for his team.

“We have a lot of guys on our team, that, if they don’t play with tremendous urgency all the time, they’re not helping our team win to the level that we need,” Otzelberger said.

“More than anything, we have to play really hard,” Otzelberger added.

It was no secret that the teams Iowa State was facing in non-conference play would not present the same set of challenges as those in the Big 12.

Every defense in the Big 12 is in the top-40 of KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency, and the highest in that same ranking Iowa State played in the first 13 games of the season was Creighton, who currently sits at 35.

In the game against Creighton, the Cyclones shot 41 percent and scored just 23 first-half points before finding their offensive footing in the final 20 minutes. Otzelberger brought that contest up when discussing the difference in competition, and said it represents how his team can still win despite offensive struggles.

Now, they have their first meeting against the Wildcats, the only team the Cyclones have yet to see this season.

Kansas State is coming off a 15-point loss against No. 10 Baylor but had won two straight contests before that game.

The Wildcats are just one win ahead of Iowa State in the Big 12 conference standings, and if the Cyclones care to bolster their efforts in chasing the NCAA Tournament, this is the first of a few games that should be considered ‘must-wins’ for the Cyclones.

How will they get back to the successes that they saw earlier in the season?

Forward Aljaz Kunc thinks it’s worth a reminder of the fundamentals that brought team 13 straight wins.

“In practice we went back to the fundamentals, pressuring the ball and guarding the dribble better,” Kunc said Friday. “Hopefully [Saturday] we can come out and prove what we’re capable of… at the beginning of the season we were a little more aggressive on defense and we’re going to get back to that.”

Their journey to find their aggression of old will start at 3 p.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum. The game can be watched on ESPNU.