Iowa State faces first road test against in-state rival Northern Iowa

The No. 7 Cyclones have their first street check forward as they put together to tackle Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Wednesday.

Final season’s ultimate in-state opponent will now be the primary in-state rival on Iowa State’s plate. The Panthers gave the Cyclones struggles in a near-road bump in an in any other case historic season.

Any time the Cyclones tackle a fellow Iowa group, followers are in for a aggressive, hard-fought sport. UNI got here shut, however Iowa State completed the day on high final season, profitable 70-69.

“They’re three of the hardest video games on our schedule; if you play these in-state video games, particularly on the street,” Iowa State head coach Invoice Fennelly stated. “You already know, they’re at all times very effectively ready. They’re gonna play onerous. They’re not gonna beat themselves, and that’s the character of this sport.”

Though it’s nonetheless early within the season, it will likely be a battle of the undefeated in Cedar Rapids, as UNI boasts a 2-0 file, the identical as Iowa State. The Panthers additionally completed with a powerful 23-11 file final season.

Fennelly is aware of what’s at stake and sees the problem forward of the group. Northern Iowa isn’t a pushover, and the Cyclones will do what they will to come back out with a win.

“They put together for us nearly as good as anybody,” Fennelly stated. “So that you’re gonna have to have the ability to run your offense and know what the counter is.”

The secret Wednesday evening shall be adapting. If the Cyclones need to succeed by the whole season, they must adapt to no matter is thrown at them.

Taking pictures wasn’t going their approach towards Southern, so the Cyclones modified their sport plan and discovered different methods of placing factors on the board. That very same tenacity will come into play in massive video games all through the season, because the rim seems greater on some nights reasonably than others.

We received to seek out these little issues and make a free throw, make a layup, be prepared to do an excellent job in particular conditions,” Fennelly stated. “Modify to the sport.”

One other problem with going through the Panthers of their area would be the lack of Hilton Magic within the air. It’s no shocker that Iowa State performs higher at dwelling, however that gained’t issue into the end result of Wednesday’s sport.

“I’ve stated many instances, we now have a very onerous schedule,” Fennelly stated. “Many of the actually good video games we play are usually not at Hilton.”

When the Large 12 season rolls round, dwelling video games will change into extra scarce, and having the ability to play effectively on the street shall be an element within the success of the Cyclones’ season.

Though the trek won’t be too far for a lot of Iowa State followers, the ambiance will certainly favor the Panthers. The gamers understand how a lot the ambiance modifications the sport and what it takes to beat that.

“Regardless that we don’t have the ten,000 individuals behind us, we are able to nonetheless do the little issues to assist us win,” Emily Ryan stated.

On the finish of the day, the season continues to be younger, and improvement would be the massive takeaway from the sport. Fennelly stated that the sport’s end result might give him an concept of the place the group is trending for the close to future. However for now, the group is targeted on the duty forward.

For Fennelly, the sport plan going into Wednesday evening is easy.

“Do all the things you’ll be able to to maintain them from scoring and discover a method to get the factor within the basket in your finish,” Fennelly stated.

The sport is about to tip off at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.