Thomas Kelati, at least, will always have Arizona, though right now he wants a little more.

"That was something I will always remember, and it felt really good to do that," Kelati said of scoring a career-high-tying 27 points in Washington State's upset win at Arizona last month. "But it will feel even better if we get into the Pac-10 tournament."

If that seems like a modest goal — all but the bottom two teams qualify for the conference tournament — well, Kelati has had little choice but to learn to be pragmatic in four years in Pullman.

The Cougars have won just 36 games in Kelati's career — only two more than Washington has won since its memorable turnaround game against Oregon State last January — which is why so many were so happy Kelati at least got to experience that day in Tucson.

But maybe, Kelati hopes, the best is yet to come, such as beating the No. 15 Huskies when the teams meet at 4 p.m. today in Pullman.

It's the first of three straight home games — Arizona and Arizona State follow next week — that will not only mark the final games in Pullman for Kelati but also likely determine WSU's postseason fate.

The Cougars are 10-12 overall and 5-8 in Pac-10 play, losing three of four since that victory in Tucson they hoped might be their turnaround game. The three losses have come by a combined 12 points, one of the losses in overtime.

In comparison to his first two years, however, this season is positively cheerful. The Cougars were a combined 3-33 in Pac-10 games Kelati's first two seasons, which happened to be the last two of the Paul Graham era.

Kelati admits he sometimes wondered what he'd done in hitching his college-basketball fate to the Cougars.

But he's never really regretted becoming a Cougar, either, because Washington State offered the one thing he valued as much as any coming out of high school — immediate playing time.

Kelati played at Walla Walla High School, where he was a member of the school's state-title team as a sophomore. His family landed in Walla Walla after his mother and father emigrated from Eritrea in the early '80s to escape a tribal war ravaging the country. His mother and father first made it to Saudi Arabia, where they met a professor from Eastern Washington who helped lead them to Spokane. They eventually settled in Walla Walla, where Thomas was born in 1982.

"He's a great kid who comes from a great family," said Walla Walla coach Jim Thacker.

Thacker's only problem with Kelati was getting him to shoot more.

"He always wanted to get everyone else involved, and he was kind of reluctant to shoot," Thacker said. "It drove me crazy."

Kelati never put up huge numbers at Walla Walla — he describes himself as a late bloomer who was initially more interested in soccer and cross country, the sports his dad competed in in Eritrea, before turning to basketball.

But he impressed college scouts with his all-around play and his 6-foot-5 frame during a few summer camps before his senior year. Gonzaga was interested but wanted him to redshirt, as did a few other schools.

Graham, then entering his second year, promised Kelati he'd play immediately.

"Sometimes now I think a redshirt year may have been good for me," said Kelati, who weighed 167 pounds as a freshman and now is up to 194. "But I was young and eager to play."

He became a starter near the end of his freshman season and led the Pac-10 in three-point shooting as a sophomore, making 45.6 percent.

Then Dick Bennett took over for Graham, and Kelati again briefly wondered what he'd gotten into. Kelati said he was used to coaches who usually "tell you you are great, you are this, you are that."

"That's never been my problem," Bennett said, laughing.

Instead, Bennett told Kelati he needed to develop a quicker release on his jumper, improve his mid-range shot, get better scoring off the dribble. And like Thacker, Bennett has often had to tell Kelati to shoot more, as he did in the second half of the Arizona game, when Kelati responded with 16 points in the final nine minutes.

"He needed to take a couple of steps in terms of assertiveness and having his game defined in terms of what he should be trying to do and what he should avoid," Bennett said. "He's improved immensely in those areas."

Kelati has steadily climbed the WSU career lists — he's fourth in three-pointers made (207), seventh in steals (122), sixth in assists (257). Add it up, and Thacker said Kelati might have an NBA future.

"Defensively, I think he could play in the NBA right now," Thacker said.

First, Kelati wants to get the Cougars into any kind of postseason. A win today would go a long way to clinching a spot in the Pac-10 tournament, but once again, Kelati's timing isn't great. The Huskies are coming off their most embarrassing loss of the season — 90-73 at Oregon State — and have had six days to stew about it. Washington hasn't lost two in a row all season and handled the Cougars easily in Seattle, 66-48.

But Kelati talks hopefully of creating at least one more memory before leaving Pullman.

"There's a lot of buzz going around campus," he said. "Our fans can make it a tough place to play."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com