Confidence is key. And Iowa State has its confidence back with a four-game winning streak to hold a 4-2 record early in the season.

Even though there’s a sense of momentum changing in the right direction, the Cyclones have had a long stretch of practice and no live games against opponents. From their last game against Western Illinois on Nov. 25 to their next game against Northern Illinois on Dec. 4, it’ll be eight days between games.

Northern Illinois, on the other hand, will be finishing its fourth game in nine days at Hilton Coliseum at 8 p.m. on ESPNU. Even though it’s a been a long time since Iowa State has stepped onto the floor of Hilton for a game, coach Steve Prohm feels more confident about his team’s success.

“It’s been kind of boring because we’ve been doing practice for the last week,” said junior guard Nick Weiler-Babb jokingly. “We can’t wait to get back out on the court Monday.”

Iowa State is still a little banged up for Monday’s game. The key focus early this season is having everyone available to play. The Cyclones only have 10 players this season, so Prohm needs all hands on deck each game to produce a winning result.

Last game against Western Illinois, sophomore guard Jakolby Long wasn’t dressed due to a concussion that happened during practice over Thanksgiving break. Then, in the game, Weiler-Babb left the game limping for a few minutes, but came back to finish the game.

It seems like two players are still questionable for the Northern Illinois game. Long is still day-to-day with his concussion and Prohm has said he’s making progress, but as of right now, Long would be out for Monday.

The other injured player is Zoran Talley Jr. who’s dealing with a foot injury. Prohm said he tweaked it during the Western Illinois game and has been recovering.

“It’s not a sprain or anything,” Prohm said. “It’s more of a bruised foot. He’s been having a boot on for the past couple of days.”

Talley Jr.’s status is unknown for Monday, but the Cyclones will have practice all this weekend to determine who will be available to start the long run of games.

Prohm said, after the win against the Leathernecks, it would be nice to have this small break between games so every player can get back to full health before a busy end to the semester. The Northern Illinois game is the first game of three within a six-day period.

“It’s going to be a busy week with three games, while also completing finals for the end of the semester,” Prohm said.

Iowa State is going to have a challenge against a diverse Northern Illinois team. The Huskies have three key players averaging over 10 points a game, which means they rely on spreading the ball out.

Sophomore guard Eugene German leads Northern Illinois with an average of 18 points per game, but junior forward Levi Bradley is close behind with 15.6 points per game. Finally, junior guard Dante Thorpe rounds out the double-digit performances with 10.3 points per game.

“They have a strong guard corps,” Prohm said. “We need to make sure we are prepared for everything that comes our way.”

Prohm said Northern Illinois is going to be a different team than Western Illinois because of how they run the court. The tempo is going to be fast-paced resulting in more fast breaks that Iowa State will need to be defensively strong for the entire game.

The Northern Illinois game will be a starting game before the biggest non-conference game for Iowa State as the Cyclones host in-state rival the Iowa Hawkeyes. If Iowa State can come out with a win against the Huskies, Prohm said the team would have a higher confidence leading into the Iowa game.

“We’re going to take each game at a time,” Prohm said. “If we focus on Northern Illinois, we’ll have a better game and hopefully come out with a win.”