For the last two years the WSU men’s basketball team has fallen short to its bitter rival, the Washington Huskies. WSU men’s basketball Head Coach Ken Bone and his players are eager to earn back bragging rights when they host the Huskies (13-8, 5-3) at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

“It’s always a challenge,” Bone said. “Coach (Lorenzo) Romar does a great job, a very good program.”

The Cougars (8-12, 1-7) lost to the Huskies three times last season including a loss in the Pac-12 Tournament.

“I really want to win,” WSU junior guard DaVonte Lacy said. “I want to win every game, but I haven’t beat UW yet and I’m looking forward to trying to get a win this Saturday.”

After missing the last seven games with a rib injury, Lacy practiced with the team during the week and is expected to suit up tomorrow.

“Saturday is the goal, it was the goal ever since I’ve been hurt,” Lacy said. “Four to six weeks and it’s week four, so I’m still progressing to that goal. I’m not coming back to be average. I’m coming back to be who I was before, and I don’t think I was an average player before, so I’m not going to put myself in that position to where I can’t help the team.”

Before the Lacy suffered a rib injury on Jan. 5, the 6-foot-4 and 215-pound guard was the leading scorer on the team, averaging 17.7 points a game.

“He’s real confident, he’s excited and anxious to get back out there,” WSU redshirt senior forward D.J. Shelton said. “He’s always around us and always around the court; he just can’t wait to get out there. I know it’s killing him to see this happening and he can’t do nothing about it, so I really expect good things from him and can’t wait to see what he does.”

WSU enters this game losing seven out of their first eight conference games, which has resulted in a last place standing in the Pac-12 Conference. The Cougars are averaging 62.1 points a game this season, which ranks as No. 335 in the country, according to espn.com.

“We need to score,” Bone said. “You’ve got to score more than 49 points a game to win and defense is important we understand the value on the defensive end, but you need to score some points too.”

On the other side, the Huskies enter this game as No. 3 in the Pac-12 and are riding a two-game winning streak after sweeping the Oregon schools last week. One of the main reasons why the Huskies have had their success this season has been because of their senior guard C.J. Wilcox. Wilcox is averaging 19.6 points a game so far this season for the Huskies.

“He’s a prolific player,” Bone said.

The last time the Cougars defeated the Huskies was in January 2011, when the Cougars won by a score of 87-80 in Pullman.

“This is my last time around playing a rival, so I feel like I really want to go out with a game and get a win,” Shelton said. “Especially (Washington) if it’s anybody.”