WSU faces an Arizona team that is tough on weekends
COUGARS
There have been five previous Saturday (or Sunday) games in the Pac-10. In those, the University of Arizona is 5-0 (the Wildcats are 1-4 on Thursdays or Fridays). Which means UA does a great job of handling the quick turnaround. A couple things in Arizona's favor: No one plays defense exactly like ASU in the conference and the two schools' offenses don't look anything alike either. WSU will try to make the quick changeover this evening, knowing that it has figured out how to limit the Wildcats in the past. Read on for more on tonight's games throughout the Pac-10.
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• Washington State: We had a quick story about WSU's No. 1 priority, which is to contain Nic Wise. We'll talk about another challenge this evening before the game: freshman Derrick Williams, who will be well rested after playing less than 10 minutes against the Huskies before fouling out. ... Nothing else on tonight's game from the Cougar side of things, but we do have some basketball history to pass on as Paul Lindemann is this year's WSU honoree in the Pac-10's Hall of Honor. Plus we have a little more on the latest signee with the football team. ... Out of Arizona, the Wildcats bench earns plaudits for its play against UW. ... Tonight's game will be the first UA will play after turning itself in to the NCAA for violations committed by former coach Lute Olson.
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• Around the Pac-10: Where to start? How about at UCLA, where two of the four teams tied for the Pac-10 lead (the others are UA and ASU) will face off at 1 p.m. on CBS? The Bruins see their beatdown at the hands of USC as the turning point of their season. ... The Bears just want to turn around a season that's going bad quickly. ... UW's Isaiah Thomas was on the bench at the beginning of the second half against Arizona, and he says he got the message coach Lorenzo Romar was sending. That message had something to do with the word "selfish." ... Ty Abbott has rebounded incredibly well from his poor outside shooting season of a year ago, hitting nearly half of his 3-point attempts this year. But the ASU wing, who plays near the baseline in the Sun Devils zone, is also rebounding in another way. ... The Ducks, like everyone else, can make a big move in the Pac-10 standings with a win today. A loss means a move in the other direction. ... Think WSU is struggling with its shooting (it is)? But Oregon State has the same problem and its shots have been coming from around the basket. ... Finally, USC hosts Stanford this afternoon with no one from the Bay Area even watching, let along covering the game. But we do have this story about USC's Marcus Johnson.
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• That's it for now. We'll be back before this evening's game, and yes it is on FSN Northwest. Until then ...
