Eight games into its Big 12 era, Arizona has already faced more ranked opponents in conference play than it did throughout its final season in the Pac-12. The Wildcats won both of those matchups, beating 21 West Virginia and No. 25 Baylor as part of a 7-1 start.

But now comes a major step up in competition as the UA hosts No. 3 Iowa State on Monday night.

The Cyclones (17-2, 7-1) are the highest-ranked opponent to come to McKale Center since the Wildcats beat No. 3 UCLA at home in 2022. Arizona has hosted 11 Top-3 opponents, going 6-5.

This matchup, along with the Feb. 15 visit from Big 12 leader Houston, are two of many opportunities for Arizona to prove it belongs in its new league. But coach Tommy Lloyd doesn’t want to put any extra importance on one conference game over the other 19, nor is he ready to start discussing regular-season titles.

“I’m not going to make it as if our season hinges on Monday, but obviously it’s a great opportunity for our program,” Lloyd said Saturday night after beating Colorado. “We can’t even think about winning the Big 12, not yet. You got to earn that right. You got to earn that right, because anything else is just words. And I hate words. I like action so let’s see if we get there. Let’s see if we get there, and if we get there, it’ll be a hell of an accomplishment. But we’re not in the position as a program right now to be talking about winning the Big 12.”

It will be another late one at McKale, with tip scheduled for 8:30 p.m. MT on ESPN, and despite the late start is has sold out. The UA is expected to be a small underdog, which would be the first time not being favored at home since 2012 against Florida.

Here’s what to watch for when the Wildcats and Cyclones clash:

Preparation for the postseason?

When in the Pac-12, playing twice in three days was the norm thanks to the travel partner system that had Arizona and ASU facing the same opponents each weekend, but that’s not the case in the Big 12. To this point the Wildcats have had at least two days off between each game, including a pair of road trips that resulted in plenty of time to prepare for the next foe.

But the UA and Iowa State will have had less than 48 hours to draw up a game plan for each other, get in one full practice and then hope what they drew up can be executed effectively. If either team decides to throw in new wrinkles, like Colorado did on Saturday, it means needing to adapt and adjust.

“I told Tad (Boyle), ‘next time can you give me a little heads up, play the game of 40 minutes of zone and run these baseline screens? It would kind of help with our preparation a little bit.’ But we had to figure it out, and that’s the beautiful thing about this game. It’s complicated. It’s this amazing game and there’s a lot of emotions in and there’s just so many random moments that you’re just trying to unravel it all the time. Trust me, the moment you think you got to figure it out, man you get humbled.”

Sophomore guard KJ Lewis, who had 10 points in the second half against Colorado after going 1 of 4 from the field in the first half, said this kind of a quick turnaround is great practice for the NCAA Tournament.

“Preparing for Colorado, we didn’t expect them to do certain things that they did, so we adjusted on the fly, which was good for us,” he said. “It’s a short prep, so this is also another preparation, what it’s going to look like in March.”

Cooling the hot hand

Iowa State has the No. 2 scorer in the Big 12 in senior guard Curtis Jones, who is averaging 18.6 points per game and is coming off a career-high 33 at ASU on Saturday. Maybe most impressive about that average is that most of that was as a reserve, as he’s only started five games including the last four after moving into the lineup following an injury to forward Milan Momcilovic.

Jones is shooting 40.3 percent from 3-point range but also takes more than half his shots from inside the arc and gets to the line quite a bit, where he shoots 82.8 percent. He took 22 of Iowa State’s 48 shots at ASU and will no doubt be the focal point of Arizona’s defensive gameplan.

The Wildcats have faced most of the Big 12’s top scorers and have had mixed results against them. Conference leader Javon Small of West Virginia, who averages 19.6 per game, averaged 15.5 in two games against the UA but was 6 of 17 in the conference matchup in Morgantown, while UCF’s Keyshawn Hall (17.2) had 22 in Tucson.

Texas Tech’s trio of JT Toppin, Chance McMillan and Darrion Williams, who each average more than 15, combined for 40 points in the Red Raiders’ win over Arizona but Toppin went for 20 with 16 rebounds.

Another big board battle

Arizona’s rebounding against Colorado, particularly on the offensive end, was key to overcoming an unexpected zone. The Wildcats had 13 offensive boards and turned those into 16 second-chance points which was their most in Big 12 play.

Iowa State is third in defensive rebounding in league games and fourth on the offensive glass, with the trio of 6-foot-10 Brandton Chatfield, 6-10 Dishon Jackson and 6-8 Joshua Jefferson collecting 44 offensive rebounds in eight Big 12 contests.

Tobe Awaka had seven offensive rebounds (15 total) against Colorado, and his 20.8 offensive rebound percentage for the season is No. 1 in the country. But Awaka averages only 18.3 minutes in Big 12 play, foul trouble limiting his action the last two games.

Arizona is 10-2 this season when limiting an opponent to less than 30 percent of their missed shots. Iowa State’s two losses saw it struggle on the offensive boards.

The perimeter game

Anthony Dell’Orso had a breakout game against Colorado, going 7 of 11 from the field with a career-high six 3-pointers for 20 points. He was the first Wildcat with six 3s since Courtney Ramey in Feb. 2023 and only the 15^th since 2001 to do so while shooting 66.7 percent or better.

Dell’Orso is shooting 47.9 percent from 3 this season, 53.8 percent in Big 12 games, but since moving into the starting lineup he’s only taking 4.2 outside shots per game. That’s compared to more than seven a night from Caleb Love, who is shooting only 30.6 percent but still gets the bulk of the defensive attention on the perimeter.

If Dell’Orso launches early—he hit two before the first media timeout against Colorado—it could draw some attention away from Love and give him more space to operate. Having a third Arizona player make a couple triples also can help, as was the case at Oklahoma State when Jaden Bradley made three.

Jones is Iowa State’s only serious outside threat—Momcilovic was its best perimeter shooting, at 44.3 percent, before getting hurt—but Arizona will still need to avoid leaving anyone open for 3.