Battle of Cougars in Salt Lake City

PULLMAN – The great traveling road show that is the 2004-05 Washington State basketball season is resuming once again, this time on the longest trip of the year.

Starting with today’s 3:05 p.m. game against 2-5 BYU in Salt Lake City’s Delta Center, the Cougars won’t play a game in Beasley Coliseum until Jan. 13, with 36 days between games on their home court.

There is some hope for WSU, currently at 3-3 on the year and with three more non-conference games before the start of Pac-10 season.

Head coach Dick Bennett said he plans to start freshman point guard Derrick Low today for the first time.

Low, a well-regarded recruit from Honolulu, broke his foot in the third practice of the year and didn’t play at all until the team’s last game, a Tuesday night loss to Gonzaga. In that game, the freshman managed 10 minutes off the bench, but today Bennett is hoping for more.

“I want him ready and thinking like a starter when the conference schedule starts,” said Bennett, explaining the decision to start him now. This is despite the fact that conditioning is still somewhat of an issue in the coach’s mind. Still, he intends to play Low for about 20 minutes, most likely in 5-minute spurts.

WSU will also get power forward Chris Henry back from injury today. The freshman from California hasn’t played a game after suffering an ankle injury one week before Low hurt his foot.