Sounds simple enough, take care of the basketball and don't turn it over to the other team.

Missouri makes it nowhere near easy.

Iowa State travels to Columbia, Mo., tonight to face the Tigers in Big 12 Conference men's basketball.

Missouri (17-6, 5-3) leads the nation in steals (12) and turnovers forced (21.1) per game.

"It's still their defense that separates them with their ability to turn you over," said Iowa State head coach Greg McDermott.

"That's where we have to zero in on and make sure we don't make those mistakes. I felt last year we handled the press OK, but our turnovers came in the quarter court. Some teams fall into the trap of relaxing once you get over half court, thinking your work is done. Often times that's when they do some of their best trapping and rotating."

Zaire Taylor, Keith Ramsey, Kim English and J.T. Tiller are each averaging between 1.5-1.9 steals per game for the Tigers.

Thirty percent of opponents' possessions against Missouri end in a turnover.

"They're everywhere," said Iowa State point guard Diante Garrett. "They're like a pack of dogs, trapping everywhere. You think a pass is there then it's taken away in a split of a second."

Iowa State (13-10, 2-6) is coming off a 79-75 loss to No. 10 Kansas State Saturday at Hilton Coliseum. Craig Brackins scored a season-high 29 points to lead the Cyclones.

"We did a lot of good things Saturday on both ends of the floor. I thought we matched Kansas State's aggressiveness as well as most teams that have played them this season with what we did on the backboards and keeping them off the free-throw line and getting there ourselves," McDermott said. "Those are really statistics that I thought would allow us to win the game."

"It takes a great effort for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor to beat a top 10 team," McDermott added, "we just weren't quite able to do that."

Brackins also had 12 rebounds against Kansas State for his 18th career game of 20 points and 10 rebounds. He is averaging 25 points and 10.7 rebounds over his last three games.

The saying in Columbia is 'the fastest 40 minutes of basketball,' and Iowa State will have to keep its composure.

"I think if you stay calm with Missouri that's your best bet than trying to speed yourself up to their game," Brackins said. "I don't think anybody is as fast as Missouri up and down because that's how they want to play."

The Tigers also lead the Big 12 in 3-point shooting with 8.5 makes per game.

"Missouri presents some challenges that we haven't seen yet this year. They are a very capable 3-point shooting team with a number of guys," McDermott said. "That can be difficult to guard."

Last time out at Mizzou Arena, the Tigers saw their 32-game home court winning streak snapped by Texas A&M.