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Date: Tonight Time: 9 p.m. Tucson time Location: Olson Court, McKale Center (14,538), Tucson, Ariz. Radio: IMG College/Wildcat Radio Network (Brian Jeffries/Matt Muehlebach) [Sirius/XM: 91/91] TV: ESPN2 (Dave Pasch/Bill Walton)  Matt Muehlebach Arizona has received understandable criticism from fans after lackluster performances at McKale Center against UCLA in the first half and Cal in the second half that led to two of the Wildcats’ four defeats. With Washington — always a tough test in Tucson and Seattle — playing at McKale Center tonight, the UA must use its home court as an advantage, not a distraction or reason to be overconfident. The Wildcats will try to avoid their third loss in McKale, which surprisingly has happened more often than not in recent years. The Wildcats lost four games at McKale Center last season after going 17-0 at McKale in the Elite Eight season of 2010-11. The Wildcats lost five games at home in Sean Miller’s first season of 2009-10. They lost three at home under interim coach Russ Pennell in 2008-09 and five in Kevin O’Neill’s year as the interim head coach in 2007-08. Lute Olson lost four times at McKale Center in his last season of 2006-07. This is all foreign to Matt Muehlebach, who will serve as color commentator for the Wildcat Radio Network tonight. Muehlebach never lost a game at McKale Center — a 64-0 record between 1987-91. With the game starting at 9 p.m., Tucson time, the energy of Arizona’s fans will be put to the test. How will the crowd respond?
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 C.J. Wilcox Wilcox broke out of his shooting slump in Washington’s 72-62 win over visiting Oregon State on Saturday. The Huskies had lost three straight and dropped seven of eight overall, coinciding with Wilcox’s slump. The Huskies’ leading scorer had scored more than 20 points just once in the previous eight games before tallying 24 against the Beavers. He made 7 of 14 shots from the field, including 3 of 8 from three-point range. Wilcox, a junior who was hot from the field in Washington’s 4-0 league start, has been bothered by a left foot injury that has limited his practice time. Wilcox was 31 of 60 from the field, including 11 of 23 from three-point range, when the Huskies started 4-0. He made only 38 of 109 from the field (13 of 44 from beyond the arc) in the eight games afterward leading up to the Oregon State game. Despite his slump, Wilcox still leads the Pac-12 with 2.3 three-pointers a game.  Nick Johnson Johnson is also in a slump but he is making up for his shooting woes by coming up with steals and distributing the ball with minimal turnovers. Johnson has not scored in double figures since posting 15 points at Washington on Jan. 31. In the last five games, Johnson has a 4.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He did not commit a turnover in three games. The Wildcats overall are taking better care of the ball, averaging 11 turnovers in their last five games. Miller has told the media that 12 turnovers or less are ideal for his team. Defensively, Johnson’s team-leading 54 steals ranks second in the Pac-12. He is also second on the team in blocked shots in conference games with 12 (behind Grant Jerrett’s 14), which is uncommon by a shooting guard.  Lorenzo Romar Washington coach Lorenzo Romar is in his 11th season as the Huskies’ coach and it appears as though he will miss the NCAA tournament for the fifth time during his tenure (unless the Huskies make a miraculous run through the Pac-12 tournament). With the Huskies’ record 14-12 this is the sixth season out of the last seven in which the Huskies have double-digit defeats in a season. Romar’s record at Washington is 233-125, which averages a record of 21.2 wins and 11.4 losses each season. Arizona fans loathe Romar because he is one of the most successful against the Wildcats and Miller. The Huskies are trying to avoid a sweep by Arizona tonight, something the Wildcats have done just twice against Romar (2003 and 2007). Since Romar has been at Washington, he has managed to go 13-11 against the Wildcats. Romar holds a 5-3 advantage against Miller.
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PAC-12 RPI ASSESSMENT
RPI based on CBSSports.com
[table sort=”desc”]
Rank,Team,Record,Pac12,Top50,SOS,*Quality Wins,**Poor Losses
10,Arizona,21-4,9-4,5-3,12,No. 2 Miami (N)/No. 4 Florida (H)/No. 21 Colorado (H)/No. 31 SDSU (N)/No. 37 Southern Miss (H),None
21,Colorado,17-8,7-6,3-3,11,No. 10 Arizona (H)/No. 13 Colorado State (H)/No. 38 Oregon (A),No. 171 Utah (A)
38,Oregon,21-5,10-3,3-2,101,No. 10 Arizona (H)/No. 18 UNLV (A)/No. 40 UCLA (A),None
40,UCLA,19-7,9-4,3-3,34,No. 10 Arizona (A)/No. 21 Colorado (A)/No. 33 Missouri (H),No. 101 USC (H)/No. 179 Cal Poly (H)
53,California,16-9,8-5,3-5,31,No. 10 Arizona (A)/No. 38 Oregon (H)/No. 40 UCLA (H),None
71,ASU,19-7,8-5,3-3,120,No. 21 Colorado (H & A)/No. 40 UCLA (H),No. 171 Utah (A)/No. 184 DePaul (H)
73,Stanford,15-11,6-7,1-8,39,No. 38 Oregon (H),No. 101 USC (A & H)
87,Washington,14-12,6-7,2-7,38,No. 21 Colorado (H)/No. 41 St. Louis (H),No. 101 USC (A)/No. 158 Nevada (H)/No. 171 Utah (H)/No. 172 Oregon State (A)/No. 175 Albany (H)
101,USC,12-14,7-6,1-8,25,No. 40 UCLA (A),No. 106 Nebraska (A)/No. 122 Georgia (A)/No. 189 Cal Irvine (H)
171,Utah,11-14,3-10,2-4,65,No. 21 Colorado (H)/No. 44 Boise State (H),No. 172 Oregon State (A)/No. 185 Washington St. (A)/No. 195 SMU (A)/No. 217 CSU-Northridge (H)/No. 294 Sacramento St. (H)
172,Oregon St.,13-13,3-10,0-5,125,None,No. 101 USC (A)/No. 163 Towson (H)/No. 185 Washington St. (H)
185,Wash. St.,11-15,2-11,0-7,94,None,No. 101 USC (A)/No. 172 Oregon State (A)/No. 188 Pepperdine (A)
[/table]
*-Wins vs. Top 50 teams
**-Losses vs. Top 100 teams or higher
SOS-Strength of schedule
P12-Pac-12 record
Site publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner
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