WSU Men's Basketball | Slumping Cougars face No. 5 Bruins

PULLMAN — And now, a word from Tony Bennett, the admiral, uh, coach of the Washington State basketball program.

"My quote of the day is, all hands on deck," said Bennett, who then repeated the phrase moments later.

His message was prompted by two forces: The arrival of Pac-10 dreadnought UCLA tonight at Friel Court, and a question about the inconsistency of several of the Cougars since the league season began.

To wit:

• The past two Thursday nights, guard Derrick Low has gone a combined 1 of 15 shooting threes. The past two Saturdays, he has averaged 18.5 points.

• When forward Robbie Cowgill scored 11 points Saturday against Stanford, it was his first game in double figures since Dec. 9.

• Reserve forward Daven Harmeling had a 1-for-7 weekend shooting threes against California and Stanford, after starting Pac-10 play 17 of 30.

• Center Aron Baynes, who looked like he might make the Cougars a better team than in 2006-07, has averaged only 19 minutes the past three games, mostly because of foul trouble.

"Don't foul," Bennett said, simplifying his message to Baynes.

WSU (17-4, 5-4 Pac-10) enters tonight with a sense of urgency, having lost three of four, and it's going to be difficult to reverse that against the best team in the Pac-10.

"Practices have been really physical and really intense," said Harmeling after Tuesday's workout. "We always have intense practices, but lately they're really intense."

Bennett was cheered by an improved outing in an overtime loss to Stanford, but the Cougars mishandled it down the stretch after leading most of the way.

"You've just got to execute," Bennett said. "I was listening to Jimmy Jackson, who I played with at Charlotte, the other night on the Big Ten Network. He said, 'If you want to win games late, you've got to do three things — take care of the ball, play great half-court defense and make free throws.' "

Those elements will be important against the No. 5 Bruins. In the first meeting, UCLA had a comfortable lead throughout before a barrage of WSU threes in the final moments made it close.

"I would be shocked if that were replicated," said UCLA coach Ben Howland, referring to UCLA's dominance most of that game. "We just don't want it to be replicated on us."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com