Arizona May Find Pullman Feels Like Home

University of Arizona sophomore Jason Terry joined his teammates this week in emphasizing the importance of winning conference games away from home.

Good news, Jason: You’re at Washington State this week. Tonight, even!

Since Lute Olson became Arizona coach 15 seasons ago, the Wildcats are 12-1 in road games against the Cougars, turning tonight’s 7:30 tipoff at Friel Court into an excellent opportunity for Olson’s young team to gain confidence away from McKale Center.

Arizona is 1-3 in road games this season - not counting an overtime loss to Michigan at Auburn Hills - but has won 22 straight against WSU, including 18 by double-digit margins.

The third-place Wildcats (12-4, 5-2 Pac-10) are coming off a convincing sweep of the Oregon schools, but need a victory tonight to keep pressure on first-place UCLA (11-5, 6-1).

The Cougars (10-8, 2-5), meanwhile, are desperate for any kind of victory. Beating Arizona seems especially unlikely, however, after WSU went 0-3 last week.

“As I told the team today, if we can play at a high intensity level, then we’ll take our chances,” WSU coach Kevin Eastman said, “because whenever we’ve done that, we’ve certainly been more than competitive.

“Now the problem is, this is the first week we have not had good practices. Our two worst practices before this were before UCLA and before USC (games lost by a total of 61 points).”

Practices may have been more productive had WSU not been without several players. Starting point guard Kareem Jackson and reserve wing Steve Slotemaker were ill most of the week, and only Jackson stands a chance of playing.

Starting forward Cameron Johnson missed Wednesday’s workout, which had been moved from morning to afternoon and therefore conflicted with the senior’s class schedule.

Sanford under fire

Washington forward Mark Sanford scored a season-low six points in the Huskies’ 80-52 loss at California last week, a game in which the unforgiving Harmon Gym crowd harassed him with chants of “CBA, CBA, CBA …”

Sanford, who briefly declared his eligibility for last year’s NBA draft, may have also been the target of at least one frustrated teammate.

“It’s frustrating to see a team with a lot of talent not come out and play with a lot of heart,” point guard Chris Thompson said. “It’s frustrating to me to see players with a lot more physical talent than I do not come out and play hard.”

Thompson didn’t name names; he didn’t have to.

Coaching carousel?

Former Idaho coach Tim Floyd is being mentioned as the successor to Dale Brown at LSU, roughly an hour’s drive from Floyd’s hometown.

If Floyd were to leave Iowa State, it could create a domino effect. Ex-UI coach Larry Eustachy, now at Utah State, probably would have a shot at Iowa State. That would create an opening at Utah State, which might take a look at Idaho’s Kermit Davis.

Davis and Eustachy were assistants under Floyd at Idaho in the late 1980s. Davis assisted at Utah State before he took the Idaho job last March.

EWU sliding

Eastern Washington has lost nine of 11 and four straight, throwing the Eagles’ Big Sky Conference tournament hopes in jeopardy.

At 6-12 overall and 2-6 in the conference, the Eagles probably need to defeat Portland State (4-13, 2-6) in Friday night’s 7:05 tipoff at Reese Court. The top six Big Sky teams qualify for the tournament. PSU is ineligible this year, its first in the conference, but games against the Vikings count in the standings.

After falling 71-67 at Portland State over the weekend, the Eagles are seventh, two games behind Montana State (4-4).

Rollins slumping

There were moments during Gonzaga’s recent 72-56 win over Pepperdine when GU guard Lorenzo Rollins seemed ready to break out of his recent shooting funk.

But after scoring 13 first-half points against the Waves, the 6-foot-4 senior made only one of his last four shots to finish with 15 points.

Rollins, the top scorer in the West Coast Conference early in the season, still averages a team-high 16.1 points per game. But he has shot just 33 percent (31 for 94) from the field in GU’s last seven games and is a dreadful 6 for 36 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range during that span.

Wright returns

Gonzaga play-by-play announcer Dick Wright, who has missed the last four games after undergoing cancer surgery, is expected to accompany the team to the Los Angeles area this weekend and handle both broadcasts.

Quotebook

“(Athletic director) Pete Dalis and the administration have been unbelievably supportive, especially after the SC game.” UCLA coach Steve Lavin, whose team defeated USC recently, when asked for an update on his interim status.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AREA LEADERS

Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt. Avg. Isaac Fontaine, WSU 127-265 84-111 42 21.1 Ben Heimerman, Whit 103-151 82-103 1 18.1 Jason Jackman, UI 120-218 97-118 0 17.7 Lorenzo Rollins, GU 103-238 54-67 30 16.1 Nate Williams, Whit 68-120 31-37 28 15.0 Jeff Mix, Whit 92-150 41-60 2 14.2 Carlos Daniel, WSU 88-172 61-88 0 13.9 Matt Santangelo, GU 83-188 36-52 30 12.9 Travis King, EWU 67-152 41-49 38 11.8 Karim Scott, EWU 88164 37-61 0 11.8

Rebounding Heimerman, Whit, 9.7 (155); Daniel, WSU, 8.7 (148); Mix, Whit, 7.8 (125); Bakari Hendrix, GU, 5.7 (103); Jackman, UI, 5.6 (107).

Assists Sean Weston, Whit, 4.8 (76); Santangelo, GU, 4.3 (78); Derek Elliott, UI, 3.9 (55); Williams, Whit, 3.6 (47); King, EWU, 3.5 (63).

Steals Elliott, UI, 2.0 (28); Weston, Whit, 1.9 (30); Rollins, GU, 1.8 (33); King, EWU, 1.6 (28); Gabe Jones, Whit, 1.6 (26).

Schedule Tonight: Cal State Fullerton at Idaho, 7:05 p.m.; Arizona at Washington State, 7:30. Friday: Gonzaga at Pepperdine, 7 p.m.; Portland State at Eastern Washington, 7:05 p.m.; Whitworth at Willamette 8 p.m. Saturday: Arizona State at Washington State, noon; Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount, 7 p.m.; UC Irvine at Idaho, 7:05 p.m.; Whitworth at Linfield, 8 p.m.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN - Men’s basketball notebook BYLINE = Mike Sando Staff writer Staff writers Steve Bergum and Jim Meehan contributed to this report.