Mouhamed Gueye, right, proved problematic for Oumar Ballo and the Wildcats when Arizona lost to Washington State on Jan. 7.

 Kelly Presnell , Arizona Daily Star

Probable starters

ARIZONA

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)

G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)

F Cedric Henderson (6-6 senior)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)

WASHINGTON STATE

G Justin Powell (6-6 junior)

G TJ Bamba (6-5 junior)

F Andrej Jakimovski (6-8 junior)

F DJ Rodman (6-6 senior)

C Mouhamed Gueye (6-11 sophomore)

How they match up

The last time: WSU snapped Arizona’s 28-game homecourt winning streak on Jan. 7 at McKale Center, beating the Wildcats 74-61. Center Mouhamed Gueye led the Cougars with 24 points and 14 rebounds, hitting a dagger 3-pointer to give WSU a 68-56 lead with 1:53 left.

Arizona shot just 31.7% overall, hitting 4 of 25 3-pointers. Point guard Kerr Kriisa was 3 of 13 from the field and 2 of 11 from 3, while center Oumar Ballo was 4 for 11 from the field and 3 of 10 from the free-throw line after suffering a bacterial infection that hospitalized him three times earlier in that week.

Last time at Beasley Coliseum: Arizona held WSU to just 34.2% shooting and outrebounded the Cougars 46-31 in a 72-60 win on Feb. 10, 2022. Bennedict Mathurin led the Wildcats with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while wing Dalen Terry had a career-high 12 rebounds and five assists. Arizona shot 49.1% overall and hit 8 of 19 3-point shots.

Series history: The Wildcats have a 10-game winning streak at Beasley Coliseum, where they haven’t lost since former coach Sean Miller’s first season with the Wildcats in 2009-10. However, the Cougars took Miller’s final UA team to double overtime in 2020-21, when UA pulled out an 86-82 win behind 24 points from Mathurin. UA leads the series overall 69-18.

What’s new with the Cougars: Washington State hasn’t really been able to sustain any momentum from its Jan. 7 win at McKale Center, in part because leading scorer TJ Bamba missed the next three games with a hand injury. The Cougars swept the Bay area trip, beating Stanford just 60-59, and then were swept in Utah and Colorado last weekend. But with Bamba returning against the Buffs and scoring 18 points, WSU lost just 58-55. Former UA signee KJ Simpson hit a go-ahead 3 for the Buffs with 4.8 seconds left, and Bamba’s last-second shot missed.

Including their 12-for-28 performance from 3-point range against Arizona, WSU is averaging 8.6 made 3s, most in the Pac-12. The Cougars lead the conference in 3-point percentage at 36.1. In conference play, WSU takes the most 3s as a percentage of overall field goals (42.5%) and hits them at a 33.5% rate, third best in the conference. Reserve wing Jabe Mullins, who hit 3 of 4 3s against Arizona on Jan. 7, leads the Pac-12 and ranks 26th nationally with a 47.1% mark from long range.

The Cougars are 6-2 overall at Beasley this season, and their two losses came by a combined three points.

Arizona guard Courtney Ramey, left, and Washington State guard TJ Bamba scuffle for control of the ball in the second half of their Jan. 7 game at McKale Center.

He said it

β€œTJ Bamba is one of their best players. He came back for the Colorado game, and he brings a much different dimension to their team with his ability to get downhill and finish at the rim, be a shot creator.

β€œThey lost (at Colorado), but they led for the majority of the game (19 minutes to 18) and played really well. It was a slugfest on the road, and it really came down to the end.

β€œWhen (Bamba) was out they went through some changes, but I feel like they’re gonna be back to how they were when we played them the first time. A lot of it has to do with how we respond. They came in here and did a great job against us, so we have to match their effort level and focus.

β€œYou don’t want to give up 12 3s, or to only score 61 points. That’s what you need to change. That’s what you need to fix.

β€œThey’re skilled. They have guys who can play inside out. And the thing that they do especially well is they offensive rebound (on 32.9% of misses), so if they do miss β€” they’re obviously good shooters β€” they’re good at following it up and getting their own make.

β€œ(Beasley) is a really tough place to play. They’ve played everyone tough up there this year or beat them. They lost to UCLA by one. They beat USC. They lost to Utah in overtime. So it’s gonna be a really tough game, and we’re gonna have to play for 40 minutes.”

β€” UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Cougars

Key players

WASHINGTON STATE β€” Mouhamed Gueye

Did the Cougars’ rangy center cause a matchup problem for the Wildcats at McKale Center? Or were the Wildcats lacking effort and energy to defend him properly β€” especially with Ballo returning from multiple hospitalizations? Maybe both things were true. In any case, it will help the Wildcats if they can wear Gueye down by scoring on the other end of the floor.

ARIZONA β€” Courtney Ramey

Another problem for the Wildcats against the Cougars last month: Ramey had just two points on 1-for-5 shooting in 24 minutes. But the grad transfer guard has improved his shooting and defense notably since then, shooting 46.4% from 3 (13 of 28) over Arizona’s last three games.

Washington State coach Kyle Smith is hoping for a big, loud crowd at Beasley Coliseum for WSU-Arizona despite at late tip time in Pullman.

Sidelines

Late night in the Palouse

A two-time visitor to Beasley Coliseum, once while playing in front of fans, Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis said Wednesday that WSU’s arena seemed β€œweird.”

β€œIt was too quiet, maybe,” Tubelis said. β€œI don’t know.”

But it’s not all the Cougars’ fault. Only about 87,000 folks live in the counties that include Pullman and neighboring Moscow, Idaho. And an 8 p.m. Pacific tipoff on a Thursday virtually guarantees very few WSU grads from peripheral areas will make the trip, even if they still pull for the Cougars.

β€œI’ve lost hope in the Spokane people coming down,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said. β€œI’ve gotta flip some of those Coug grads that have become Gonzaga fans.

β€œWe got a building that’s probably too big. But it’s a loud building. It’s a good building. When the kids are there, it’s going to be great.”

Maybe they will be there. The Cougs announced a crowd of 5,012 when they hosted UA last season on a Thursday evening, and their ticketing map indicated a similar crowd this Thursday was possible.

Smith found at least one encouraging data point.

β€œI think we’ll have a pretty good crowd,” Smith said on a Zoom conference Tuesday, with what appeared to be an Einstein Bros. cup next to him. β€œThe only reason I say that is I was getting a coffee this morning and the kid asked me, β€œAre we ready?’ So I took that as a positive.

β€œI figured he’d be there.”

More Bruins, please

UCLA is leading Arizona by two games in the Pac-12 race even after the Wildcats beat the Bruins last Saturday. But Tommy Lloyd said he wants to keep playing them well into the future.

That includes next season, when UCLA is not scheduled to make an appearance at McKale Center. The Pac-12 has kept the window open to change the 2023-24 schedule because the Bruins will not be around to carry out their share of the 10-year schedule rotation after leaving for the Big Ten in 2024.

β€œI think it would be fitting for both schools to do a home-and-home the last time around,” Lloyd said. β€œIt’s been a great rivalry. And moving forward, we’ll have to see where it’s at. Mick (Cronin, UCLA coach) and I have talked about it a little bit. He and I will probably have some input, but I’m sure our bosses will have some input as well.

β€œIt’s a unique situation with them leaving the conference. Whether there’s upset people and hurt feelings along the way, I don’t know. But for me, I love playing them. I look forward to playing them, win or lose. It’s great as a competitor to have those opportunities.”

McMotivation

UA signee KJ Lewis was left off the McDonalds All-American rosters this week, but he’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove himself against those who made it during his Wildcat career.

Four Pac-12-bound players were named to the McDonald’s rosters, including Colorado signee Cody Williams, a former UA recruiting target who was a teammate of UA freshman Dylan Anderson at Gilbert Perry High School.

While Williams was strangely placed on the McDonald’s β€œEast” roster along with Oregon-bound forward Kwame Evans of Florida’s Montverde Academy, Oregon-bound wing Mookie Cook and Stanford-bound forward Andrej Stojakovic were named to the West team.

Arizona had recruited Evans, Cook and unsigned forward Matas Buzelis (McDonalds East), who is headed to the G League instead of college.

Numbers game

3 β€” Games Arizona has won despite shooting less than 40%. All three of the Wildcats’ losses have also come when they have shot under 40%.

2.54 β€” Courtney Ramey’s assist-to-turnover ratio in Pac-12 games, second in the conference behind only Utah’s Rollie Worster (3.33).

13 β€” Years since WSU swept Arizona during the regular season, doing so in 2009-10, Miller’s first season with the Wildcats.

McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com.

On Twitter: @brucepascoe