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No. 22 Arizona seeks to rebound from home rout

Feb 1, 2007 - 2:49 PM No. 17 Washington St (17-4) at No. 22 Arizona (14-6) 8:30 pm EST

TUCSON, Arizona (Ticker) -- Coming off an embarrassing home loss, Arizona needs to refocus on the stretch drive in the Pac-10 Conference.

The 22nd-ranked Wildcats look to win for just the second time in six contests and remain above .500 in conference play Thursday when they host No. 17 Washington State.

Arizona (14-6, 5-4 Pac-10) snapped a three-game slide with a convincing victory over intrastate rival Arizona State before dropping a 92-64 decision to No. 3 North Carolina on Saturday. It was the worst home loss in coach Lute Olsen's 24 seasons with the Wildcats.

Freshman Chase Budinger scored 16 points and Mustafa Shakur added 15 for the Wildcats, who committed 20 turnovers and shot a season-low 34 percent (20-of-59) from the floor. The Tar Heels broke open the contest by ending the first half with a 24-5 run.

Arizona looks to avenge a 77-73 overtime loss on January 6 to Washington State (17-4, 6-3), which has split its last four contests.

The Cougars are coming off Saturday's 77-74 overtime loss to ninth-ranked Oregon. Derrick Low hit 9-of-16 from the arc to score a career-high 37 points and Kyle Weaver and Chris Matthews added 13 apiece for Washington State.

Arizona has won 23 of the past 29 home matchups against the Cougars and 41 of the last 43 overall encounters.