The Arizona men's basketball team will travel up Interstate 10 tonight to face in-state rival ASU in another hostile meeting at 7:30 on FSN Arizona.
If ASU is going to break its eight-game losing streak against the Wildcats dating back to 2002, the Sun Devils are going to have to improve on an abysmal conference start.
Arizona (12-6, 5-3 Pacific-10 Conference) has been in and out of the Top 25 throughout the season and knows that another loss might jeopardize its chances of winning the Pac-10 crown, while Arizona State (7-10, 1-7) finds itself the conference's resident cellar-dweller.
"We know with the in-state rivalry ... it will be a huge game for us if we are going to keep our title hopes alive," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said.
No matter the records heading into the game, freshman forward Marcus Williams said he has heard a lot about the rivalry and doesn't expect to come out with any less energy in his first game against the Devils.
"I heard a lot about the rivalry, so it's going to be exciting," Williams said. "It's a tough game at their place, but I'm looking forward to it, and energy isn't going to be a problem going into that gym."
The two schools' contention has seen some dark times in the past, with ASU fans jeering Olson about Bobbi Olson, his late wife who died in January of 2001 from ovarian cancer, and an episode when Olson pointed at the scoreboard as the Sun Devils fans kept chanting while they were getting pounded by the Wildcats.
Williams said he has heard just about everything that has happened during this rivalry and doesn't know how to approach tonight's game.
"I've heard some crazy stories, so I'm not sure what to expect, to be honest with you," Williams said. "I never had a true rivalry like that."
In Saturday's game against California, the Wildcats shot just 33.3 percent from the field, but Olson said that is unlikely to happen again.
"I feel good right now about how our team played, and I think we'll shoot the ball a whole lot better than we are right now," Olson said.
Olson also said he was very pleased with the Wildcats' defensive efforts against Stanford and Cal last week, when they held the Golden Bears to 18.8 percent (3-for-16) shooting from beyond the arc.
"I thought the two games we probably played as well defensively as we've done all year," Olson said.
Last year against ASU, Salim Stoudamire hit a 14-foot jumper with just six-tenths of a second left to give Arizona not only the victory but also the conference title.
In an example of how deep the rivalry goes, an ASU fan brought a sign to the Territorial Cup football game this year that said "Salim traveled" because some thought the senior guard dragged his foot on that final shot.
"On the road you never have the crowd with you, especially at ASU," junior center Kirk Walters said. "They're always after us, and it's the cross-state rivalry, so they'll play hard every time."