Scouting report: No. 9 Arizona Wildcats (18-4, 8-1) at Washington State Cougars (9-11, 1-7)

Game info

Who: No. 9 Arizona (18-4, 8-1) at Washington State (9-11, 1-7) 

Where: Beasley Coliseum, Pullman

When: 8 p.m. 

Watch: Pac-12 Arizona 

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

G Parker Jackson-Cartwright (5-10 senior)

G Allonzo Trier (6-3 junior)

F Rawle Alkins (6-5 sophomore)

F Deandre Ayton (7-1 freshman)

C Dusan Ristic (7-0 senior)

Probable starters: Washington State

G Malachi Flynn (6-1 sophomore)

G Viont’e Daniels (6-2 junior)

F Kwinton Hinson (6-4 junior)

F Robert Franks (6-7 junior)

C Drick Bernstein (6-8 senior)

How they match up

Series history: Arizona has won 12 straight over the Cougars, the second-longest such streak between Pac-12 schools, and hasn’t lost to them since Sean Miller’s first season with the Wildcats in 2009-10, when Klay Thompson was a WSU sophomore. The Wildcats haven’t even struggled in Pullman lately, winning at WSU by an average of 18.8 points during their past four visits. Arizona won 78-59 on Feb. 16, 2017 in Pullman, when Parker Jackson-Cartwright hit 4 of 5 3-pointers, Allonzo Trier collected 12 rebounds and Lauri Markkanen had a double-double (19 points, 11 rebounds). Markkanen also had a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds) in UA’s 79-62 win at McKale Center a month earlier.

What's new with the Cougars

The Cougars raced out of the gate with six straight wins, including one over San Diego State for the Wooden Legacy tournament championship, but they have struggled in Pac-12 play, beating only California in a lopsided home game on Jan. 13. They don’t have a lot of size but are mobile up front and get 3-point shooting out of four different positions. The Cougars fire up an average of 29.5 3-pointers in Pac-12 games and hit them at a 37.7 percent rate (UA is allowing Pac-12 teams to shoot 36.3 percent from 3-point territory against it.) WSU is also good at defending the 3-pointer (35.1 opponent percentage) but struggles to contain opponents within the arc: Pac-12 teams make 48.2 percent of their two-point baskets against Washington State. The Cougars don't get to the free-throw line often, taking just 12.8 free throws on average in Pac-12 games, but have mobile big men up front in Drick Bernstine and Robert Franks. Bernstein had 20 points and 15 rebounds against UA while playing for North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament last season while Franks is a much-improved stretch four who takes 46 percent of his shots from 3-point territory. The Cougars also have two 6-9 players off the bench in Arinze Chidom and Jeff Pollard, plus lightly used 6-11 juco transfer Davante Cooper. Scoring-minded point guard Malachi Flynn leads the Cougars in the backcourt while reserve guard Carter Skaggs is the Cougars’ top percentage 3-point shooter (46.4 percent overall and 41.1 percent in Pac-12 games).

He said it

“They’ve had a couple of really good low post players and this year those low post positions (include one) guy able to make 10 3-pointers in a game and you can really call him their center or four-man (Franks). And we’ve dealt with Bernstine, who played against us in the NCAA tournament last year and had a big game. He was the best player in that game on both teams, he’s an excellent passer, and older player."

– UA coach Sean Miller

Key player: Robert Franks

While Arizona fans may recall Bernstine burning Lauri Markkanen to reach the basket in the NCAA Tournament last season, Franks is a hot-shooting 3-point threat whose power-forward size could make him a tough matchup for UA: He’s smaller than Deandre Ayton but bigger than Rawle Alkins or Emmanuel Akot.

Key player: Deandre Ayton

Zone defenses have helped keep Ayton from his usual double-doubles in three straight games, and he’s averaging “only” 19.4 points and 9.8 rebounds in the Pac-12. But undersized WSU could struggle to find the right sort of bodies to throw at him this time.

Road trip, defined

UA guard Allonzo Trier will get an all-expenses-paid trip home to Seattle this weekend but he knows he’ll have to pay for it in one sense: First the Wildcats have to travel to remote Washington State to play a game Wednesday and then wait two more days before facing the Huskies on Saturday evening.

That meant flying to Spokane on Tuesday and staying overnight there, then taking a 90-minute bus ride to Pullman on Wednesday, playing the Cougars, and then driving another 45 minutes to Lewiston, Idaho, where the Wildcats are scheduled to take a midnight flight to Seattle.

“It’s a great trip but it’s a long one though,” Trier said. “This is the furthest trip for us but it’s great to go back to where basketball started for me. A lot of friends and people will be there to see me that I don’t get to see very often. It’s always fun.”

Actually, playing in Pullman has been fun for the Wildcats, too: They’ve hopped onto their last six flights out of Lewiston following a win.

Familiar face

Like probably everyone else who watched Arizona beat North Dakota 100-82, WSU coach Ernie Kent was impressed with the Hawks’ Drick Bernstine, who had 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting and 15 rebounds in that game.

The difference was that Kent actually convinced Bernstine to play for him a few months later. Bernstine was looking to play in a better conference and was also best friends with Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins, who plays in Spokane.

Now, Kent is hoping Bernstine can replicate the effort, or at least come close. Only one starter remains from the last time WSU faced UA, guard Malachi Flynn, though then-reserves Viont’e Daniels and Robert Franks have become starters.

Having Bernstine “is an advantage for us in that we won’t have so many new guys going through this experience,” Kent said. “Drick, with his size and quickness, hopefully he can neutralize some of the quickness he brings to the table.”

That said, Kent said he’s aware he’s facing some disadvantages in facing the Wildcats, especially when it comes to Deandre Ayton.

“There’s no question about it,” Kent said. “With the size, the athleticism, the skillset I just think he’s a very difficult matchup for anybody in the country.”

Akot reappears

Maybe Emmanuel Akot is starting to become that defensive stopper UA coach Sean Miller once talked about.

The freshman forward played just 11 minutes total over the Wildcats’ first five Pac-12 games, but averaged 11.5 last weekend against Colorado and Utah, while recording a game-saving stop against Utah’s Donnie Tillman during the Wildcats’ 74-73 win over the Utes.

“Emmanuel did a good job in the last game,” Miller said. “He’s playing more because we’re all gaining more confidence in him and more importantly, he’s gaining more confidence in himself, recognizing the ability he has.”

At 6-foot-7 and 200 pounds, Akot can guard wing players but also has the kind of size that might be helpful against Washington State’s undersized big men.

“He’s not a small guy so when he comes in the game, it looks different,” Miller said. “There’s some real value there in having a bigger wing being able to defend multiple positions. We’ll see where we go from here.”

Numbers game

4: Times in the past five seasons UA has had only one or no losses in the first half of Pac-12 play (the Wildcats were 5-4 in 2015-16)

8: Straight WSU losses against ranked Arizona teams, since the 18th-ranked Cougars beat the 20th-ranked Wildcats on Feb. 1, 2007.

14: 3-pointers WSU needs to make to tie the school record of 240 for a season.

65.6: Allonzo Trier’s shooting percentage from within the 3-point arc, third best in the Pac-12. Trier is also the only player shorter than 6-7 with a two-point-shooting percentage in the Top 10 of Pac-12 rankings.