The Iowa State men’s basketball team weathered the non-conference schedule with, at times, just seven or eight healthy players. But now, the Cyclones must enter Big 12 season with limited bodies.

On Friday, Iowa State takes on the Kansas State Wildcats in Hilton Coliseum at 8 p.m. and at the moment, the Cyclones have only seven healthy players due to Jakolby Long still trying to get over a concussion, Hans Brase dealing with an ankle issue and Zoran Talley Jr. having a stress fracture in his foot.

“Zoran is most likely out,” said coach Steve Prohm. “Questionable for the other two.”

Lindell Wigginton on the strength of the Big 12 pic.twitter.com/61gIyNJmx8

— Garrett Kroeger (@GKroegs) December 27, 2017

It’s no secret that the Big 12 is one of college basketball’s toughest conferences. Six out of the 10 teams in the league are currently ranked in the AP Top 25 poll — West Virginia (No. 7), TCU (No. 10), Kansas (No. 11), Oklahoma (No. 12), Baylor (No. 18), and Texas Tech (No. 22) — and the other four are a combined 38-9.

Although Kansas State isn’t one of those six ranked conference teams, Prohm still believes the Wildcats will be a handful come Friday night. The third year coach believes the purple and silver possess four quality athletes, including two potential All-Big 12 caliber players in guard Kamau Stokes and forward Dean Wade. So, the short-handed Cyclones know they must come out firing on all cylinders.

“We’ve got to be super-focused,” said freshman guard Lindell Wigginton.

While Iowa State might be short-handed against Kansas State, it won’t be anything new for the Cyclones.

“We’ve fought through adversity all season long,” Prohm said. “We’re not probably supposed to be 9-2 if you talk to a lot of people. The (Indianapolis) Colts coach Chuck Pagano said it best, ‘You live in vision, not in circumstance.’

“That’s how we have to live. Our vision is to play in March. So we’ve got to handle all the adversity whether it’s injuries or missed free throws. That’s just part of the game. Everybody goes through it, so we just have to fight through it.”

This year, the Big 12 looks like a potential eight-bid league come March. And if Iowa State wants to make it to its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament, the Cyclones are making it a priority to win their home conference games this season.

Iowa State has defended Hilton Coliseum under Prohm. In his two seasons in Ames, Prohm and the Cyclones are a combined 14-4 in Big 12 play at home.

“You’ve got to take care of home,” Prohm said. “I think we’ve put ourselves in position in the non-conference that if we can handle ourselves well in the Big 12, take care of home and steal a few on the road, we’ll have an opportunity [to make the NCAA Tournament].”

Prohm also added that this year, potentially going 8-10 in the Big 12 could maybe get a team into the tournament and if you went 9-9, you would probably for sure get in. So, with that mentality, Prohm wants his squad to take one game at a time.

The Kansas State match-up provides an essential test that leads to more and more tougher exams, leading up to the potential cumulative final — the NCAA Tournament. And Iowa State knows that it can’t take a study break to achieve its goals.

“No night is an off night,” said redshirt junior point guard Nick Weiler-Babb. “You’ve got to take every night seriously and give it all, 100 percent, every time you go out there, whomever it is.”

And the Cyclones are ready to give it their all once they and the Wildcats take the court Friday.

“This is what you live for,” Weiler-Babb said. “This is what you come to college for, to play in one of the best conferences in college basketball.

“You’ve got to go out there every night and be excited and just do what you’ve got to do.”