The WSU men’s basketball team is in a major hole heading into week seven of conference play.

The Cougars (9-14, 1-10 in Pac-12) are currently on a nine-game losing streak and will have a difficult time snapping that streak as they play at Colorado on Thursday.

The Buffaloes (17-7, 6-5 in Pac-12) have played well at home thus far in the season, having won 11 of 13 games on their home floor in 2015. For WSU, the team is still searching for its first true road win of the season.

However, this could actually be the best chance the Cougars have of getting that first road victory of the season.

Back on Jan. 23, when these two teams first squared off in Pullman, the Cougars should have knocked off Colorado, but WSU missed 11 free throws in that game and lost by five points.

“They require your full attention mentally wise, just to be able to defend them and do some things that way,” WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent said. “We did a pretty good job of that the first time around, but we’ll get a different team this time around, different environment, everything else playing them on their home floor.”

The Cougars were also able to contend with Colorado in the first meeting because there was more contribution from the entire team rather than just WSU junior forward Josh Hawkinson and junior guard Ike Iroegbu carrying the entire load.

WSU junior forward Conor Clifford chipped in 18 points and redshirt junior guard Que Johnson scored eight points against Colorado.

Kent said he’s still searching for that third consistent scorer on this Cougar basketball team which will obviously put the team in a better position to win more games.

“When we have three guys scoring the ball well and even four, we’re a much different basketball team and we’re right there to beat some people,” he added.

WSU is already a different basketball team with redshirt junior guard Valentine Izundu back in the rotation. Izundu did not play in the first meeting against Colorado, but could be the difference maker in the second game.

When Izundu is on the floor the Cougars are a much better team at defending the low post. The 6-foot, 10-inches, 215 pound center has a team high 41 blocks this season. Due to Izundu’s athleticism and huge wingspan, teams will think twice when trying to score in the paint.

“We certainly have missed him because we really feel like he gives us a chance to win a couple more games here or there if we had a full team together, but injuries are a part of the game,” Kent said.

The Buffaloes’ offense is centered around their senior forward Josh Scott. He leads CU in scoring with 16.7 points per game and rebounds with 9.1 per game. If Izundu can contain Scott, the Cougars have better chance of snapping their nine-game losing streak.

If the Cougars were to lose against Colorado, they would extend the losing streak to 10 games which would be the first since 2002.

Tipoff between the Cougars and Buffaloes is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in Boulder, Colorado. Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the game.