CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona junior shooting guard Salim Stoudamire drives past Stanford's Matt Lottich during the Cardinal's 80-77 win over the Wildcats last weekend in Stanford, Calif.

Wildcats return home after disappointing 1-3 record on road swing

After losing five of its first 11 Pac-10 games, the UA men's basketball team has a lot of avenging to do.

The Wildcats missed their first chance at revenge Saturday against Stanford, the team that handed the UA its first conference loss by coming into McKale Center and beating Arizona by 10 on Jan. 10.

Tonight, Arizona gets another shot at Southern California, the team responsible for its second Pacific 10 Conference defeat - a 99-90 upset in Los Angeles five days later.

Arizona (14-6, 6-5 Pac-10) returns home after a disappointing 1-3 road trip, capped by the Cardinal's last-gasp victory on a Nick Robinson buzzer-beater.

According to some Wildcats, Stanford and USC (9-11, 4-7) are similar opponents.

"In my eyes they are no different than Stanford," senior guard Jason Ranne said of the Trojans. "They worked us over the last time."

In the teams' first meeting, Desmon Farmer posted a career-high 40-point effort. After falling behind in the game's first four minutes, the Wildcats weren't able to overcome Farmer's shooting or their 18 turnovers on offense.

Arizona enters tonight's game in much the same position as last time it faced the Men of Troy: Coming off an emotional loss to Stanford.

Lute Olson's squad will be looking to make some changes tonight to avoid the season sweep at the hands of a reeling USC team. Since dismantling the Wildcats, the Trojans have gone 1-5 and sunk to eighth in the Pac-10.

Still, Olson said the Wildcats can't let their guard down.

"We need to forget about what went on this weekend, and focus on the fact that we learn from those experiences," he said. "There shouldn't be any feeling of security coming home, because we gave USC a lot of confidence by the way they handled us."

For the Wildcats to be successful the second time around against the Trojans, Ranne said they will need to get off to a quick start, something Arizona failed to do on its recent road trip.

"We've got to come out with the same defensive attitude we had against Stanford in the second half," Ranne said, "and hopefully shut them down the way we did."

History shows the Wildcats excel when jumping out to an early lead. In the 11 games this season that the Wildcats either led or were tied after 10 minutes of play, Arizona registered nine wins.

Olson said he thinks his squad's recent slump may be as much mental as it is

physical. According to the coach, Arizona needs to play a complete game from start to finish, with the confidence that got his team off to a 10-1 start.

"We're not mentally tough enough in some positions to do the kind of job defensively that we need to do," Olson said.

He also cited the need for Arizona's sophomores - Hassan Adams, Andre Iguodala and Chris Rodgers - to elevate their game to the next level, and fast.

"Our sophomores have to become juniors in a hurry," he said.

Aside from shutting down Farmer's 20.4 points per game, Arizona will need to control missed shots and keep Jeff McMillan off the boards. In the Trojan's first 20 games, McMillan leads the club with 7.7 rebounds per contest.

On the bright side for the Wildcats, center Channing Frye is coming off a 61.9 percent shooting performance last week against Stanford and California. The 6-foot-11 center notched the 1,000 point mark of his collegiate career against the Golden Bears.

The Phoenix native is emerging as the team's leader as the season progresses.

"I feel we learned from what happened (against Stanford) and we're taking this in stride," Frye said. "I understand we made some crucial mistakes that cost us the game, but we feel we can play with anybody in the country."

Ranne said the Wildcats will be looking for payback in the USC game, which tips off at 6:30 p.m. tonight.

"Any time you lose, there is an incentive for revenge," Ranne said.