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Woods' status unknown

Lute Olson is silent about junior center Loren Woods' back injury, but that's not surprising.

After all, the UA head coach has historically kept team matters where they belong - in the team - and isn't afraid to keep in-state rival Arizona State and the rest of the Pacific 10 Conference guessing.

Although ESPN.com's Andy Katz is reporting that Woods will miss at least the next three games, UA athletic department officials have not confirmed any of the reports.

The only thing the team will say is that Woods is receiving treatment for ongoing back problems and is questionable for tomorrow's game against ASU at McKale Center (2 p.m.).

A Phoenix paper, East Valley Tribune, also reported that Woods is out for the season, to which Olson responded, "They must have some pretty good doctors up there in Mesa."

"It's an ASU thing, it adds to the mystery of that," Olson said.

Filling in for Woods will be junior forward Justin Wessel, fresh off receiving three-stitches on his nose after catching an elbow last Saturday against UCLA. Wessel knows he cannot fill in for Woods entirely.

"If I grow five or six inches, maybe I could," Wessel said. "He's the main part of our team, at least numbers-wise. He changes our game plan and how teams attack us. He's dying to get out there, he's been playing with it for a month. When we play without Loren, it's a problem for us."

Many have complained that the UA-ASU rivalry has been almost non-existent for the past few years because Arizona has been so dominant, winning the last nine games. Arizona destroyed the Sun Devils 82-55 Jan. 26 in Tempe, holding Eddie House, the Pac-10's leading scorer, to eight points.

However, the Sun Devils make the return trip with confidence, having won their last four games, and are hungry after getting embarrassed on their home court.

"In the back of their minds, they have how we beat them up there," UA sophomore forward Michael Wright said. "Payback, and now without Loren, they're licking their chops."

ASU head coach Rob Evans has also added fuel to the fire, calling for a Pac-10 conference tournament at the end of the season.

Evans said "other people," namely Arizona, Stanford and UCLA, are standing in the way of a Pac-10 tournament because those traditional powers feel the champion should be crowned on how they did in the regular season, not on how they played during one weekend.

"I have my opinions, he has his," Olson said. "Mine's based on 17 years in the league. Opinions should be kept opinions, not comments about other people. My comments have been my opinions."

Once again, Arizona's focus will be on stopping House. UA freshmen guards Gilbert Arenas and Jason Gardner switched off defending House, and will be asked to do it again tomorrow.

"It's a very good challenge," Arenas said. "I'm a freshman, he's a senior."

"I just try to chase him to the ball. If he shoots, I hope he misses it."

The Sun Devils will hope to get more production from their other players. Forwards Awvee Story, who was placed on probation by the Pac-10 last weekend after a post-game fight with USC's David Trepagnier, and Shawn Redhage average 10.2 and 10.0 points per game, respectively.