JayhawkSlant.com caught up with Bill Seals, publisher of CycloneReport.com, to get his thoughts on tonight's game.

1) Coming off back-to-back losses, how do you expect Iowa State to respond in Lawrence on Monday night?

I think the Cyclones will respond with a better effort than against K-State on Saturday afternoon, but will it be enough? The secret is out on how to play against a team without Milan Momcilovic, so the Jayhawks will have a better plan going in than it did the last time when they found out hours ahead of the opening tip that the sophomore forward would be out for an extended period of time with a broken finger in his non-shooting hand. ISU got off to a quick start over the first few minutes against the Wildcats and eventually led 13-4, but it was pretty much all downhill from there. I think ISU plays with more energy and probably doesn’t need another technical from TJ Otzelberger in an attempt to get them fired up.

2) What was the mood of the team following the loss at home to KSU and could it carry over to Monday night?

I think the players had a look of being mentally spent from everything that had happened over the past week. The Arizona trip took a lot out of them, even though there was some time to prepare for Kansas State. Two nights after going toe-to-toe with ASU and storming past the Sun Devils in the final five minutes to pull out a win, they were on their way to a huge win over Arizona until Caleb Love’s near-three-quarter-court shot. The Cyclones didn’t recover in overtime of that game and proceeded to come out flat for much of the Kansas State game. And now there’s not a whole lot of time for practice and TJ Otzelberger and his staff to preach getting back to core principles before a trip to Lawrence. All things considered, I don’t think the effort could be much worse, even given ISU’s step-up in competition from K-State to KU.

3) What will it take for ISU to get back on track and who are a few players to watch against Kansas?

Otzelberger laid it out pretty clearly in his post-game presser on Saturday what it will take. The Jayhawks are likely to continue doing what other opponents have done in a stretch of three losses in six games since Momcilovic went out, clogging the middle to take away Keshon Gilbert’s drives and the craftiness of Joshua Jefferson, then getting physical with Curtis Jones. Others will have opportunities to make plays but must do so much better than against K-State. ISU also needs to get Dishon Jackson back on track and garner more quality minutes from Brandt Chatfield. The Cyclones were also outrebounded by 10 on Saturday and at one time in a double-figure hole on the offensive glass. That must improve on Monday night.

How do you see this game inside Allen Fieldhouse playing out? Two teams desperate for a win.

Both teams seem to be going through a mid-season lull, and the Jayhawks have the luxury of playing this one at home. Iowa State knows what it needs to do without Momcilovic, but I think KU rolls out a good game plan and continues to make things difficult on the likes of Jones and Gilbert. I think the Jayhawks dig down deep and prevail in a close one, probably by around a couple scores.