The WSU men’s basketball team is in a do-or-die situation this week. After losing four of the last five games the Cougars (9-8, 1-4) currently sit in last place in the Pac-12 standings. That could change, however, if the Cougars can protect their home court this week against the Midwest schools of the Pac-12 Conference.

WSU will first play host to the Utah Utes Thursday at 8 p.m. in Beasley Coliseum which will be televised on Fox Sports 1. Though the Utes (13-5, 2-3) do not have former All-Pac-12 guard Delon Wright this season, the team has not seemed to take a step back. Instead, Utah has proven to be a tournament caliber team after wins against Duke, Texas Tech, and BYU earlier in the season. As of Jan. 19, Utah’s RPI ranking at NCAA.com was No.29. The Utes are 4-4 against teams ranked in the NCAA RPI top-50 in 2015-2016.

“Brandon Taylor does a good job of leading this team (Utah) and they have a really good big man in (Jakob) Poeltl and (Jordan) Loveridge, he’s a senior so he’s a smart player (and) a really good shooter,” WSU junior guard Ike Iroegbu said. “We got to play them solid and when it comes to those three guys you got to do a good job on them.”

Poeltl is averaging 16.3 points and 9.1 rebounds a game this season, which are both a team high. Loveridge is second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points a game. Taylor is known for his efficient 3-point shooting and is No.5 on Utah’s all-time career made 3-pointers with 204.

“I thought they (Utah) pulled out a great game against Oregon State,” WSU Head Coach Ernie Kent said. “I think they’re going to come in with a tremendous amount of energy and we need to match that energy and we need to play much better defense than we have in our first few games.”

Since conference play started on Jan.2 the Cougars are giving up an average of 89.6 points a game. Part of the reason as to why WSU is allowing a plethora of points on the defensive end currently is the team is without its leading shot blocker, Valentine Izundu. The 6-10, 215 pound redshirt junior has missed the last three games because of a foot injury. In 14 games this season, Izundu has accumulated 38 blocks. WSU junior forward Josh Hawkinson led the team in blocks last year with 34.

“When we’re giving up the amount of points that we’ve given up in our first few games we’ve got to get back to playing defense,” Kent said. “We don’t have Valentine yet for a few more games so we need to make sure we’re accountable more on the defensive end of the floor.”

With Izundu out, WSU freshman forward Robert Franks and WSU sophomore Derrien King have stepped up for the Cougars. Franks saw his first action of Pac-12 play during the Arizona road trip last week. In his first Pac-12 game against ASU, Franks shot 4 of 8 from the field and tallied a career-high 11 points.

“The competition at the Pac-12 level is very good,” Franks said. “Everybody has a game, the biggest thing that separates you is how hard you work.”

The 6-7 forward added that Kent and his staff want him to stretch the floor for WSU which involves scoring from either inside or outside the perimeter. During the Arizona road trip, Franks hit 3 of 8 from behind the 3-point line.

King also tallied a career high in the ASU game by scoring 11 points on 3 of 8 shooting from the field and hitting 5 of 6 free throws.

“When you have players that are starting to get into the season a little bit and start to get comfortable with what we’re doing, players tend to rise up and start to play better,” Kent said. “I’m happy for those two guys because they’re starting to play real well and doing some good things that has certainly carried over to practice.”

After playing Utah Thursday, the Cougars will then host the Colorado Buffaloes (14-4, 3-2) this Saturday at 6 p.m. at Beasley Coliseum. WSU’s matchup against Buffaloes will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.