JON HELGASON/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Rick Anderson battles for a rebound in the Wildcats' blowout win against NAU last week. Anderson and the Wildcats take the McKale Center floor again tonight against Saint Louis.

Walton and Stoudamire both return to face Saint Louis

Mention the word "Wisconsin" around the three UA seniors and only bad memories come to mind.

"I don't even want to talk about that game," said senior Rick Anderson about the No. 1 UA's 66-59 loss two years ago to the No. 8 seed UW Badgers in the NCAA tournament.

No, Wisconsin is not the No. 1 Wildcats' (2-0) opponent tonight ÷ that would be Saint Louis at 7 p.m. in McKale Center. But the head coach of the Billikens, Brad Soderberg, was the assistant coach for Wisconsin during the Badgers' upset over UA and brought the same philosophy with him to SLU (1-2).

"They prefer to go slower, and that's the way Saint Louis is going to play," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "They play a solid, aggressive man-to-man defense."

Saint Louis at Arizona starting lineups Tip-off is at 7 p.m. in McKale Center Saint Louis Billikens Player Position Chris Sloan Forward Kenny Brown Center Josh Fisher Guard Marque Perry Guard Anthony Drejaj Guard Arizona Wildcats Player Position Luke Walton Forward Rick Anderson Forward Channing Frye Center Will Bynum Guard Jason Gardner Guard

This will be the first time that the Wildcats will face a team that likes to play a slow, half-court style of offense, which clashes with the fast-paced up-and-down game the Wildcats like to play.

"They are really going to trying to pace themselves and we really have to get pressure on them," Anderson said. "It's going to be difficult in a way (to play slower), but we can make it difficult on them if our team can pressure the ball and get back on defense."

Olson said he likes to schedule non-conference teams with different offensive philosophies because once conference play comes around, each team will bring something different to the table. He also said a factor in scheduling Saint Louis is so freshman Andre Iguodala will eventually get a chance to play close to his hometown of Springfield, Ill., which is less than 100 miles from St. Louis.

At SLU, Soderberg is in his first year at the helm and is still trying to install the offensive mindset that he learned from former Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett.

"We're trying to implement a new system that (the players) are not used to, and the only way they're going to fully believe is if we get some hard-fought wins," said Soderberg, who was the interim head coach at Wisconsin after Bennett retired in 2000.

The Billikens got their first win under Soderberg on Saturday against St. Bonaventure, 56-54, after losses to the University of Tennessee at Martin and Southwest Missouri State.

But unlike SLU, the Wildcats have had nearly a week off since their game, a win against NAU on Wednesday. The time off has let two players rest and make it back into the lineup ÷ senior Luke Walton and sophomore Salim Stoudamire.

Walton, who practiced yesterday, will be back in the starting lineup tonight.

"It's feeling a lot better," said Walton about the ankle injury he suffered against NAU.

Stoudamire will play his first game of the season tonight, but will not be in the starting lineup, as Will Bynum will get the nod.

"My ankle is still around 90 percent. The trainer said it would still hurt for two more weeks," he said. "It was really sore after practice on Saturday. I will probably play around 10 minutes or so. I just want to face some action."

Arizona received all 71 first-place votes in The Associated Press poll released yesterday. Texas, Alabama, Duke and Pittsburgh round out the top five. Former No. 5 Kansas fell to No. 14 after two straight losses.