The Cougars (9-8, 1-4) will look to rebound from a tough loss at the hands of the Washington Huskies, as they return to Pullman for a match-up with the Stanford Cardinal (15-3, 5-1).

The Cougs have not played a game in Beasley Coliseum since Dec. 18 when they defeated Western Oregon. Since that time, WSU has gone a dreary 2-4 including a string of three straight losses.

Senior guard Marcus Capers said the team is looking forward to coming home in front of the Cougar faithful.

“It’ll help our younger guys out, everyone plays better at home and the reason why is you play with a chip on your shoulder,” Capers said. “You got to protect your house and I feel like that’s what we’re going to do when we play.”

Head Coach Ken Bone echoed Capers remarks as he said the team is thrilled to return to their home floor.

“It can really boost our guys’ confidence, playing on our home court where we practice,” Bone said. “Ironically we got the two best teams in the conference coming in. But still, there’s no where we would rather play than on our home court.”

After a poor second-half showing against UW, where the Cougs surrendered 44 rebounds, 21 of them offensive, en route to a 75-65 loss.

Bone said the Huskies were simply the more physical team between the two squads. He added the team has been hard at work during practice, to work on hitting the boards.

“Our guys work hard at it, I mean almost every single day we do rebounding and our kids work really hard at rebounding,” Bone said. “Our kids are working really hard in the rebounding area. But at times we are out-manned by other teams.”

WSU is sure to have their hands full this weekend, as conference leader Stanford will bring their 6-foot-8 center Josh Owens to the Palouse. This season, Owens is leading Stanford in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Capers said Owens will be a tough match-up for the Cougars, but he is anticipating the Cougars will attack on fast break opportunities.

“Rebounding is going to be a key, (Josh) Owens is a beast, he’s a strong guy,” Capers said. “If we keep him off the glass, and the guards come back and rebound and push the break. When we push it we’re a pretty solid team.”

Stanford leads the all-time series between the two schools 69-58, but WSU has the upper hand in Pullman, where the Cougs are 35-26 against the Cardinal.

The two teams split their series last year, as both teams were able to notch victories on the road.

Capers added the Cougs must play as a team if they want to be successful against fierce competition.

“When we play as a team, I feel like we’re not only one of the best teams in the conference but one of the best teams in the country, regardless of what politics say,” Capers said.

WSU will be without junior Mike Ladd, who will miss his second consecutive game with a wrist injury.

Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.