Iowa State men’s basketball coach Steve Prohm, senior guard Donovan Jackson and redshirt freshman forward Cameron Lard met with the media Monday to preview the upcoming game against Maryland Eastern Shore.

Talley Jr., Long still out with injuries

Redshirt junior forward Zoran Talley Jr. has missed four straight games with a stress fracture in his left foot. On Dec. 5, he was ruled out indefinitely and Prohm told the media Talley Jr. would be reevaluated after the holiday break.

Jakolby Long has also missed time, but his injury is different. The sophomore guard is dealing with concussion symptoms after he took an elbow to the head in practice over Thanksgiving break.

“We’re at eight [healthy players] right now,” Prohm said. “We’ll be at eight for sure on Wednesday. We’ll evaluate when we get back. I would think Jakolby [Long] is back full-go 5-on-5 when we get back on the 26th.”

After scoring just 11 points all of last season, Long exploded for a career-high 17 points in a win over Tulsa on Nov. 17. In the team’s six games since then, Long has played just seven minutes and missed four games.

Iowa State hasn’t missed them too much on game day, since the Cyclones are currently riding an eight-game winning streak, but having a limited number of players in practice has hurt the team.

Long should be ready to go for the Big 12 opener on Dec. 29 when Kansas State comes to town. Talley Jr. will be reevaluated on Dec. 26 or 27, per Prohm.

Cyclones battling to stay focused on Maryland Eastern Shore

The last game before players go home for Christmas is often a tough one. Not because of the opponent — Maryland Eastern Shore, Wednesday’s opponent, is currently 3-9 with four losses by 40 or more points — but because of the players’ desire to go home for the first time in months.

“The last game before the holidays is always a tough one,” Jackson said. “Everybody’s ready to go home. It’s probably not going to be that big of a crowd. You’ve just got to be ready and locked in.”

Maryland Eastern Shore comes into the game ranked No. 344 out of 351 Division I teams according to KenPom.com (as of Monday).

The Hawks lost both of their last two games, at Virginia Tech and Creighton. They were outscored by a combined score of 180-76.

“We’ve just got to come in here and be ready to play,” Jackson said. “I don’t think there’s going to be anybody here. But we should still have fun with it.”