After a road loss to No. 25 Kansas State, Iowa State will return to Hilton Coliseum for the first time in two weeks Wednesday when it hosts Texas Tech. The game will tip off at 7 p.m.

Iowa State (13-11, 4-9 Big 12) is coming off a tough seven-game stretch in which six of its opponents were ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game. Iowa State went 3-4 in those games, beating two ranked teams. When Texas Tech (11-13, 3-10 Big 12) comes to Ames, it will be as close to a break as Iowa State will get in the Big 12. Texas Tech has lost its last eight games dating back to early January.

Iowa State lost the first matchup with Texas Tech on Jan. 4. The Cyclones had a lead entering the fourth quarter, but Texas Tech pulled away in the final minutes. Coach Bill Fennelly has made changes to the starting lineup since that first game, and Iowa State is playing at a different level than it was a month ago.

Now, with only five games left in the regular season, Iowa State has a chance to make some noise down the stretch leading into the conference tournament.

“It’s hard to believe we only have three home games left,” Fennelly said. “[It’s a] big week for us, certainly. Playing a Tech team that we lost to back in early January, our kids are excited about it. I think they’re ready to hopefully finish strong.”

Four of Iowa State’s final five games will be against teams with losing records in Big 12 play, giving Iowa State a great chance to move into the top half of the conference standings.

“I think if there’s any hope of playing in some kind of postseason, you gotta play well this week,” Fennelly said. “We have five games left, and there’s a lot of possibilities. And certainly it’s a big hill to climb for us to do that.”

In their first meeting, Texas Tech made 25-of-26 free-throw attempts, while Iowa State hit just 4-of-7 attempts.

“I think they’re a 65 percent free-throw shooting team and they went 25-for-26 against us,” Fennelly said. “I think if you look at our team, every team has a certain identity, and for our team you gotta make shots.”

Fennelly emphasized defensive rebounding and foul differential as two key factors that have hurt Iowa State in losses. That held true in Iowa State’s loss to Kansas State over the weekend, as the Wildcats scored more second-chance points and had fewer fouls than Iowa State.

Point guard Jadda Buckley was held to a season-low two points against Kansas State, due in part to foul trouble that kept her on the bench for part of the game.

“Obviously just better defense,” Buckley said. “Moving our feet, keeping our hands off, not getting little touchy fouls here and there is important.”

While Buckley, Seanna Johnson and Bridget Carleton fought foul trouble and cold shooting, Emily Durr stepped up and provided a scoring spark. Durr had a season-high 20 points in Iowa State’s loss.

“It’s really hard,” Durr said. “They’re our big three, so especially when they’re in foul trouble and Bridget got in foul trouble too, you can kind of see our offense was a little more stagnant.

“We just need to step up — me, [Meredith Burkhall], Heather [Bowe] — and do the things we know we can do and try and get the win.”