Wildcats hoping to remain undefeated

KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat

UA freshman center Channing Frye hoists a shot against the EA Sports All-Stars earlier this season. Frye and the Wildcats battle Kansas and its pressure defense tomorrow at McKale Center.

The top-25 gauntlet continues for No. 3 Arizona when No. 8 Kansas comes to town tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 in McKale Center.

The Wildcats (3-0) will play their first home game of the season and junior forward Luke Walton said he couldn't imagine a better opponent to be going up against.

"It means a lot to us," Walton said. "It is our first home game - the crowd is going to be loud. That's what's so fun about basketball. They are a great team, we are a great team, and we are going to go out and battle for 40 minutes."

This will be the first regular-season home game for this year's freshman class, and Salim Stoudamire said he's looking forward to the experience.

"I am anxious to see what the crowd is like," Stoudamire said. "I like (rowdy) types of crowds."

The Jayhawks (3-1) come into Tucson fresh off a 105-62 win against Pittsburgh State on Wednesday night.

This will be one of the few times Arizona fans will actually get to see the Jayhawks in person. Two of the last three meetings between the teams have been in the NCAA Tournament - each team an Arizona win.

The last time the two met in the tournament was 1997, when Arizona upset then-No. 1 Kansas in the Sweet 16. The Jayhawks were the first of three No. 1 seeds the Wildcats defeated on the way to the school's only NCAA Championship.

History aside, tomorrow's game could be the biggest of the year for both teams.

With conference play approaching, both squads realize wins against top-ranked teams will come into play when the seeds are announced in March.

"Even though they got beat by Ball State, we all know they are a Final Four team," junior guard Jason Gardner said. "By playing them, it won't do anything besides make us better."

Despite not playing a regular-season game in two weeks, Olson said he feels his team is better prepared after the exhibition game last week against Nike Elite, a team comprised of former college and overseas players.

"We had been on such a fast track because of the early games," Olson said. "Six of our scholarship kids are freshmen, and there was an awful lot of things in practice that were fast-tracked. Any time you do that, you're not going to get some of the basic things taken care of. I thought the exhibition game came at the perfect time. It gave us a chance to see some of our younger guys."

Olson said the break from top competition was important for the team - especially the freshmen - in handling Kansas' intense pressure, which forced 21 steals against Pittsburgh State.

"The key thing is, because they hit you with so many surprise elements, you have to have guys on the court that understand at any moment they have to break early because of their defensive pressure," Olson said.

Although the freshmen have another week of experience under their belts, Gardner said the Wildcats still need to prove themselves and said tomorrow provides that opportunity.

"We still need to prove to everybody that we can still beat the big teams," Gardner said. "With everybody saying our first three games were flukes, we just want to respond and keep proving it."

Walton agreed and said that now the team is in the spotlight, Arizona must play to its potential.

"If we want to be the No. 3 team (in the country), we need to prove that we can win, game-in and game-out," Walton said. "I don't think we are trying to prove anything to other people. I don't think we are looking at it as we have to prove to the country how good we are. I think people know how good we are."

Gardner said despite the rankings, he feels Arizona might still be overlooked in the game.

"I still think we are going to be the underdogs," Gardner said. "It is kind of cool being the underdogs. It will be more motivation to go out there and win."