Texas makes its first road trip of conference play as they travel to Ames, Iowa tonight, but there’s a much bigger “first” in play when the team hits the court at 7 P.M. The Longhorns will be playing their first game in school history as the top-ranked team in the nation.

At first blush, the match-up with Iowa State seems like it should be a cakewalk, just another notch in the win column as the Longhorns march on to next week’s showdowns with Kansas State and Connecticut. But regardless of how good or bad the Cyclones are in any given year, Hilton Coliseum still manages to be a house of horrors for visiting opponents. The venue even has a name for its own special brand of home-court advantage — they call it “Hilton Magic.”

Add in the fact that every team plays with extra effort to knock off number one, and consider the always-dangerous possibility that players start buying into their own media hype, and you could have a recipe for an inexplicable stumble in an “easy” game. That’s why Coach Rick Barnes told his team on Monday afternoon “I can’t honestly tell you who the No. 1 team was in the country on the second week of January last year. But I do know who won the national championship.” Maintaining focus the rest of the way will be necessary for Texas to avoid an embarrassing pratfall.

By the numbers

Despite the fact that former Cyclone Wes Johnson is tearing it up for Syracuse, the current Iowa State squad is much improved from last season. Where once there was only Craig Brackins and a cast of underachieving role players, now there is depth and talent.

As a result, the Cyclones are enjoying efficiency numbers on both sides of the ball that rank in the top 100 in the country. They average a per-possession differential of +1.22 points, and as a result, they no longer have to play slow games where they attempt to limit the number of possessions.

The key component of the Iowa State offense is their three-point accuracy. While the Cyclones don’t actually take a ton of long-range looks, their incredible success rate from behind the arc opens up the inside game for their big men. Iowa State has made more than 42% of their three-point attempts, but still take nearly 70% of their shots from inside the arc.

Defensively, Iowa State provides a complete change of pace from the Colorado team that Texas just faced. While the Buffaloes constantly put their opponents on the free-throw line, only seven teams in the country do that less often than the Cyclones. For a Texas team that often struggles from the stripe, this could be a very good thing for the offense.

Although the Longhorns do struggle with free throws, Iowa State is yet another opponent that will have similar problems from the charity stripe. Just like Arkansas and North Carolina, the Cyclones leave a ton of points at the line, making just 63.3% of their attempts so far this year.

Meet the Cyclones

The only household name on the Iowa State roster is Craig Brackins (16.9 PPG/8.1 RPG). The junior toyed with heading to the NBA after last season, but returned for another year and was rewarded with Preseason All-American honors. At 6’10”, 230 pounds, Brackins is an extremely versatile player who can shoot from anywhere on the floor and can adequately handle any position in the lineup. His wide-ranging skill set allows Coach Greg McDermott much more flexibility with lineups, and it gives opposing defenses fits when trying to match up with him. Brackins is the team’s most accurate three-point shooter so far, hitting 52% of his 27 attempts, and that long-range threat allows him to pull bigger defenders out of the paint.

Newcomer Marquis Gilstrap (14.3 PPG/8.4 RPG) is a senior playing in his first season for the Cyclones. He transferred after playing one year at Gulf Coast Community College in Florida, where he suffered a horrible knee injury that sidelined him for all of 2006 and 2007. Iowa State is hoping to get him another year with a medical redshirt, but if this is truly his last collegiate season, he is certainly making the most of it.

Gilstrap is an incredibly athletic wing player with great handles, and can also score from anywhere on the court. His rebounding numbers are tops on the team, and although he’s only taken 39 threes, he’s made 41% of them. Just like Brackins, Gilstrap is a tough match-up, although he lacks some of the size to bang inside with the bigger post players of the Big 12.

The floor leader for Iowa State is Diante Garrett (8.4 PPG/5.4 APG), a 6’4″ guard who has a solid shot, but prefers to facilitate the offense. He can break down defenders off the dribble and get to the rack, but more often than not, Garrett dishes it off to one of his bigs when he penetrates the lane. He’s improved his defense in the offseason, which has earned him even more playing time at a position where the Cyclones are loaded with talent.

One of those other talented point guards is freshman Chris Colvin (3.2 PPG/2.1 APG). He was one of the nation’s top prospects at his position and provides solid defense with his really long wingspan. Fortunately for Texas, the freshman is suspended for this game for a violation of team rules. That suspension likely means more playing time tonight for sophomore guard Dominique Buckley (1.6 PPG), another steady ballhandler who provides depth at the point.

Also in the backcourt is German gunner Lucca Staiger (9.0 PPG/1.9 RPG). He leads the team in threes with 42, and is sinking them at nearly a 43% clip so far this season. He’s not very adept at creating his own shot, but the Cyclones are good when it comes to freeing him up for open looks. If they can set good screens tonight, Staiger will certainly knock down a few clutch triples.

The most surprising player of the season has to be big man Justin Hamilton. He’s a 6’11” sophomore from Utah who brought low expectations with him to Ames. He had a few breakout games in his freshman campaign, but has improved to become a consistent contributor this year. Hamilton started in each of the Cyclones’ first 14 games, but a head injury kept him out of Saturday’s win over North Dakota State.

If Hamilton is healthy enough to play tonight, his performance down low against the Texas frontcourt will be integral. Fail to produce, and the Longhorns can focus on shutting down Brackins and Gilstrap. Play well, and suddenly Texas has its hands full picking which poison to swallow.

Providing more depth in the frontcourt is junior college transfer LaRon Dendy (7.4 PPG/3.4 RPG). He is a big, long player who can really hang in the air to get rebounds and tip-ins. His scrappy style and hustle for loose balls really reminds me of Gary Johnson, and should the two directly match up tonight, it ought to be fun to see who wins the 50/50 balls. The biggest knock on Dendy, however, is his pitiful 47% mark at the free throw line, where the comparisons to Johnson quickly end.

Coming off the bench for Coach McDermott are a pair of marksmen in Jamie Vanderbeken (4.1 PPG) and Scott Christopherson (7.3 PPG). Vanderbeken is a senior whose minutes have been limited by the influx of talent to the Ames campus, but he still makes his presence known in his shorter stints on the court. He has knocked down 50% of his threes this year, although he has taken only 16 from behind the arc. Christopherson, meanwhile, has the same 50% success rate, but has put up 34 tries. A 6’3″ sophomore, Christopherson is a transfer from Marquette and is coming off of knee surgery in the off-season.

The final player in the ten-man rotation that the Cyclones employ is sophomore Charles Boozer (3.7 PPG/1.6 RPG). The younger brother of Utah Jazz star Carlos Boozer, the 6’3″ guard had a breakout game on Saturday against North Dakota State. After averaging just 2.6 points per contest coming into it, Boozer had 19 points filling in for the suspended Colvin. He did it with hustle and an impressive 7-of-11 shooting night, including 3-of-6 from long range. Look for Boozer to again grab a bunch of minutes at the two against Texas.

Keys to the game

The Longhorns have one of the nation’s best interior defenses statistically, and that will be tested against a deeper Iowa State frontcourt than we’ve seen in recent years. But where Texas is likely most vulnerable is on the perimeter, where the Cyclones are liable to get hot at a moment’s notice. In most shocking upsets, you’ll find that the less-talented team hit their fair share of three-pointers, and ISU is certainly capable of doing that tonight. Texas must limit the damage from long range.

If the Cyclones aren’t scoring three at a time, they are going to need a ton of points from their junior stud Brackins. While Gilstrap and Dendy are solid additions, they won’t be able to beat Texas on their own. If the Longhorns can turn Brackins into a mere mortal, it would seem that Iowa State has almost no chance to pull off the upset.

Our third thing to watch tonight is not a key, but rather a historical milestone. Damion James enters tonight’s game just eleven rebounds shy of claiming the all-time Big 12 crown, currently held by Kansas’ Nick Collison. It’s no guarantee that DaMo will hit the magic number against this Iowa State frontcourt, but there’s still a good possibility that the double-double machine could break the record tonight.