MINNEAPOLIS — Let’s see. Things to do for Auburn in tonight’s NCAA Tournament Midwest second-round game.

No. 1 task: Stop, slow, knock down, distract and/or interfere with Iowa State’s do-everything star Marcus Fizer.

Fizer, a 6-8, 265-pound junior averages 23.3 points and 7.6 rebounds. He also handles the ball like a savvy point guard and shoots like a two guard.

Quite simply, with Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin out for the year with a broken leg, Fizer is the consensus best player in America, according to college hoop experts.

That makes tonight’s 5:38 p.m. NCAA Tournament task for No. 7 seeded Auburn (24-9). The Tigers must find a way to at least slow No. 2 seed Iowa State (30-4) and Fizer, who scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds in the Cyclones’ 88-78 win over Central Connecticut State in Thursday’s first round.

“We have to limit his touches,” said Auburn senior guard Daymeon Fishback of Fizer.

Auburn’s 6-7, 220-pound forward Mack McGadney, who nailed a clutch and key 28-foot three pointer in Thursday’s win, said the Tigers will look to a drill they use in practice to school them on stopping Fizer.

“It’s called the ‘killer drill,’ ” McGadney said. “It’s 30 seconds of trying to deny the ball into the post.”

Auburn coach Cliff Ellis smiled when the “killer drill” was brought up.

“It’s called the ‘killer drill’ and it is a killer,” Ellis said. “It’s 30 seconds of absolute, non-stop work.”

Herein lies the problem for Auburn: It must, in essence, employ the killer drill on Fizer for 40minutes, not 30 seconds.

Still Auburn sounded confident yesterday.

When it was pointed out to McGadney that only one upset occurred in Thursday’s games, he said, “We view ourselves as a No. 1 seed. If anything, it would be an upset if Iowa State beat us.”

The problem there is this: Iowa State is about much more than Fizer alone.

Sure Fizer led all scorers Thursday night. But he didn’t take over the game when it counted. That hero status belonged to Brooklyn-born point guard Jamaal Tinsley, who scored 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting.

Seventeen of those points came in the second half, with Iowa State staving off a furious Central Connecticut rally.

Ellis acknowledged that most teams have doubled-covered Fizer in an effort to slow him. There are problems there, too, though.

“Naturally, if you double-up Fizer then someone else is open,” Ellis said.

Fizer is quick to point out that when Iowa State was making its big run in the second half Thursday, he scored only two points.

“You can try to stop me all game long,” Fizer said. “But, before you know it, Stevie (Johnson) or Kantrail (Horton) or Jamaal will have 20 points.”