College Basketball Tonight

Washington State at Arizona

The Cougars (2-6 in Pacific-10 Conference, 9-7 overall) look for their first road win over the Wildcats (5-3, 15-4) since 1984. Tipoff is 2 p.m. PST, with Steve Physioc and Larry Farmer scheduled to provide play-by-play and color commentary on ABC-TV’s live regional telecast.

At a glance: This is another hard game to read, unless one factors in past performances. Then 14th-ranked Arizona is a lock. The Wildcats haven’t lost to WSU on their home court in 12 years and haven’t lost to the Cougars anywhere since Jan. 30, 1986, when they dropped a 65-63 overtime decision in Pullman. But the matchups this time are more intriguing than those of the recent past. Arizona is without beefy senior center Joseph Blair, who is academically ineligible, and has only one starter - senior Ben Davis - taller than 6-foot-6. With Mark Hendrickson back to nearly 100 percent from the broken hand that sidelined him for almost four weeks, and sophomore forward Carlos Daniel showing dramatic improvement each time out, WSU should have an edge inside. The Cougars’ biggest problems will be on the perimeter, where the Wildcats go 6-6, 6-5 and 6-2 to WSU’s 6-3, 5-10, 5-10.

The Cats were stunned at home by Washington on Thursday night and could come into tonight’s game a bit angry. But the Cougars, coming off a muchneeded win over Arizona State, should come in more confident than they have been since late December.

Leaders: WSU: Isaac Fontaine, 18.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg; Mark Hendrickson, 17.8 ppg, 10.2 rpg; Donminic Ellison, 12.8 ppg, 4.9 apg; Shamon Antrum, 13.0 ppg. Arizona: Ben Davis, 14.3 ppg, 8.9 rpg; Miles Simon, 13.5 ppg; Reggie Geary, 7.4 apg.

TV/Radio: ABC-TV (channel 4) Spokane, 2 p.m.; KXLY (920 AM) Spokane, KCLX (1450 AM) Colfax, KWSU (1250 AM) Pullman, KCVL (1240 AM) Colville, KZFN (106.0 FM) Moscow, KORD (870 AM) Tri-Cities, KBSN (1470 AM) Moses Lake, KKRT (900 AM) Wenatchee, with Bud Nameck, 1:30.

, DataTimes