After falling to the USC Trojans on Thursday, the WSU men’s basketball team is searching for any type of momentum as the team has lost its last six games. The good news is the Cougars’ (9-10, 1-6) next game is against the UCLA Bruins (12-8, 3-4), which WSU won the previous outing by a score of 85-78 in Pullman on Jan. 3. This time the Cougars will play UCLA on the road in Pauley Pavilion at 4:00 p.m.

“They (UCLA) got a really good guard in Byrce Alford and a couple really good bigs,” WSU senior forward Junior Longrus said. “I think what we’ve learned about ourselves is we can compete with anybody in the Pac-12 when we play the right way.”

Here are three key areas to the Cougars should focus on if they want to get their first win in Pauley Pavillion since 2009:

Contain Bryce Alford

UCLA junior guard Bryce Alford is no doubt one of the top players in the Pac-12 Conference this season. The 6-3, 185 pound guard is averaging a team high of 16.7 points and 5.3 assists PER game this season. As of Jan. 25 Alford is ranked No. 5 in the Pac-12 in scoring. Alford’s biggest strength is his 3-point shooting. He’s shooting about 47 percent from behind the arch. In the first meeting against UCLA the Cougars held Alford to 2 of 10 shooting from the field which resulted in a total of nine points for the Albuquerque native. Expect WSU junior guards Ike Iroegbu and Charles Callison to up their on-ball pressure when Alford is handing the rock on Saturday against WSU.

Spread out the scoring

WSU junior guard Ike Iroegbu and junior forward Josh Hawkinson have been the only two players to consistently score for the Cougars this season. In the win over UCLA, WSU had five players score in double figures, which was the difference in the ball game. If the Cougars can have at least two more players along with Iroegbu and Hawkinson score in double-figures, WSU will be in a prime position to win against UCLA. By having more players on the team contribute, it will also take the pressure off of Iroegbu and Hawkinson of have to score a plethora of points in order to keep WSU in the ball game.

Make your free throws

Usually shooting free throws has never been issue under WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent during his time on the Palouse. However, the Cougars have lost two games in conference play this season because of poor free throw shooting. The Cougars were fortunate to defeat UCLA the first time around after shooting 66.7 percent from the line, but that could be a different story this time around if WSU continues to struggle from the line.

Tip-off between WSU and UCLA is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday in Los Angeles, California. ThE game will be televised on THE Pac-12 Networks.

Reporting by Evan Baron