AMES — After the Cyclones’ thrilling overtime victory over Texas Tech, they rose to No. 2 in the AP Poll, the highest ranking in program history.

Now, it’ll likely take another close victory to keep that ranking with No. 9 Kansas coming to town. 

In recent years, Iowa State vs. Kansas has become one of the Big 12’s premier basketball rivalries, but Wednesday’s installment of the rivalry might be one of the most anticipated. 

“It’s going to be an unbelievable atmosphere,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Even though everybody gets really excited to play them because of the success they’ve had historically, I think where we’re unique is that we know we’re going to have great fan support, we’re going to have great energy in this building and enthusiasm.”

“It’s gonna be a great game,” sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic said. “We’re No. 2 in the nation, they’re No. 9… it’s gonna be a good atmosphere.”

The Cyclones have struggled with the Jayhawks as of late, dropping eight out of the last 10, but each of the last two wins came inside of Hilton Coliseum, including a 79-75 victory in their latest matchup. 

“Being able to pull that one out, I feel like it gave us a little more momentum going further into that season.” junior guard Tamin Lipsey said.

“I think that was a point where we knew we were good enough,” Momcilovic said. “It just kind of took us to another level.”

Pulling off a second straight victory over Kansas will be no easy task. The preseason No. 1 team in the country is 12-3 and riding a three-game win streak, beating UCF, Arizona State and Cincinnati by an average of 28 points per game.

During its winning streak, Kansas has held its opponents to an average of 47.7 points per game.

“They’re playing really well right now,” Otzelberger said. “They’ve gone on the road and had some decisive wins. They’re hanging their hat on their defense.”

The Jayhawks aren’t just beating up on inferior opponents, either. They also have wins over North Carolina, now-No. 12 Michigan State and now-No. 3 Duke. 

“They’ve won some big games early in the year, whether it’s Duke, Michigan State, North Carolina. I believe right now that Kansas is the best version of themselves,” Otzelberger said. 

Kansas is led by fifth-year senior center Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson played his first three seasons at Michigan before transferring to Kansas and has had an illustrious career.

Dickinson is a two-time second-team All-American and was last season’s Big 12 newcomer of the year. Now in his fifth season, Dickinson is averaging 15.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, as well as 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. 

The Jayhawks’ second leading scorer is senior guard transfer Zeke Mayo. Mayo played the first three seasons of his career at South Dakota State and won Summit League Player of the Year in his junior season before transferring to Kansas.

Mayo averages 14.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

Earning the No. 2 ranking and having a home game against a top-10-ranked Kansas team in the same week has created a lot of buzz and pressure around the Cyclones, as they’ll have to continue to block out the noise.

“When you get ranked higher and higher, people expect more and more out of you,” Lipsey said. “We do a great job of staying true to ourselves and doing the work, not really looking at the rankings.”

“Putting any thought into those sort of things doesn’t have anything to do with anything,” Otzelberger said. “What is important is that we have good practice, a good film session, we come out and play hard. 

Iowa State and Kansas tip-off at 6 p.m. Wednesday from Hilton Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.