In the first meeting between Iowa State (12-10, 1-6) and Missouri (19-4, 6-2) this season, the Cyclones took a 31-point beating — their worst loss of the year.

For this Saturday’s game between the same two teams, ISU forward Craig Brackins gives three keys to a different outcome.

“Handle the pressure; (fewer) turnovers; take advantage of the way they cheat passing lanes,” Brackins said.

The tenacious style of full-court pressure that Missouri brings has allowed it to lead the Big 12 in steals (10.8 per-game) and scoring offense (84.3 points-per-game).

The biggest statistical difference from game one however, was the discrepancy in 3-point shooting.

Missouri was a red-hot 13-of-25 from beyond the arc while the Cyclones shot a dismal 2-of-17 from three-point land.

“(Missouri’s transition game) affected a lot, but not as much as their 3-point shooting and how terrible we were from the 3-point line. I think that should change here because we shoot better here,” Brackins said.

Unfortunately for the Cyclones, the Tigers are playing some of their best basketball of the year. Missouri is coming off a 17-point win over Baylor last Saturday and a 4-point win over No. 17 Texas in Austin on Wednesday.

Coach Greg McDermott said that the Cyclones need to key in on Missouri’s 3-point shooters, but with the amount of shooters they can put on the floor, it’s a difficult task.

“It’s not that easy when they’re good, and obviously Missouri’s playing really well right now. I felt like after we played them the first time that they were going to be one of the better teams in our league and I think that they’ve proven that to be the case,” McDermott said.

Missouri isn’t ranked but is receiving votes in both polls, coming in at No. 27 in the Coaches Poll and No. 28 in the Associated Press Poll. With a win over Iowa State, the Tigers would surely jump into the top 25 after already displacing Texas on the road earlier in the week.

Another reason that the Tigers have been one of the biggest surprises in the Big 12 this year is the play of their seniors. Missouri has one of the most experienced teams in the conference and it’s starting to pay dividends.

“They’re three seniors, in (Leo) Lyons, (DeMarre) Carroll and (Matt) Lawrence, really bring some stability and some execution late in games. They’ve had different guards step up at different times and had big games throughout the conference season,” McDermott said.

Carroll and Lyons both rank in the top 12 in scoring in the conference averaging 16.7 and 14.7 points respectively.

The Cyclones held both Carroll and Lyons below their season average in the first meeting but got torched by Marcus Denmon, Zaire Taylor and Keith Ramsey from beyond the arc.

The Cyclones are trying to avoid their first three-game home losing streak since the 2005-06 season.

At Hilton, though, Iowa State has had Missouri’s number as of late. The Cyclones have won eight of the last nine meetings between the two teams in Ames, with the lone loss coming in McDermott’s first season as coach in 2006-07.

“You feel comfortable at your place with your fans cheering for you. I don’t feel like we’ve been doing a bad job on the road it’s just we can’t finish games, so we need to start finishing teams,” Brackins said.