President Bill Clinton had hardly finished reciting his oath at his first inauguration the last time the Washington Huskies beat the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion, in 1993.

Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6669
John Laxson

Sophomore forward Lawrence Hill collected the winning basket in Stanford’s thrilling 76-75 victory over Virginia on Sunday. Hill leads the Cardinal with 14.8 points per game.

Tonight, the Huskies will try to snap Stanford’s improbable 13-game home winning streak in the series and avenge last year’s particularly sour defeat. The Cardinal tied the game on three consecutive free throws by Chris Hernandez at the end of regulation and won in overtime. The previous year, Stanford spoiled Washington’s bid to win the Pac-10 in the final game of the season at Maples.

But in addition to trying to make up for past losses, Washington (11-4, 1-3 Pacific-10 Conference) has a more pressing concern: clawing to stay out of the Pac-10 cellar. After winning 10 of their first 11 games, head coach Lorenzo Romar’s Huskies come into tonight’s game having lost three of their first four games to conference foes. The Huskies dropped three straight, beginning with a draining, double-overtime loss to Southern California on Dec. 28, but beat Arizona State last week to snap the streak.

While Washington sits eighth in the conference, Stanford finds itself only one notch above and similarly desperate for a win, having lost games to Arizona and California.

Stanford-Washington games have been close in the last few years, and this year should be no exception. While Washington has struggled on the road (going only 1-4 away from Seattle) the Cardinal have posted a mediocre 5-3 record at Maples.

Both squads also feature a balanced attack of young players. Washington’s scoring attack is led by two freshmen, center Spencer Hawes and forward Quincy Poindexter, who combine to average 30 points a game. The team also starts two sophomores — Jon Brockman, one of only two players in the Pac-10 to average at least 10 points a game in both points and rebounds, and point guard Justin Dentmon.

All five Washington starters, including sharpshooter Ryan Appleby, average at least 10 points a game.

Stanford (9-4, 1-2), meanwhile, relies on two sophomores for the bulk of its scoring, with Lawrence Hill and Anthony Goods combining to average almost 27 points per game. In their last game against Virginia, the Cardinal started Hill and Goods along with two freshmen, Robin and Brook Lopez, as well as senior Fred Washington. The team spread the ball, and all five scored in double digits in that game.

The Cardinal will likely start sophomore point guard Mitch Johnson to defend Dentmon, though Johnson has recently lost minutes to freshman Landry Fields and Washington, who has averaged seven assists in Stanford’s last three contests.

Stanford is coming off a dramatic 76-75 win over Virginia last Sunday, winning on a last-second floater by Hill. The team will try to parlay that win into a new streak, and head coach Trent Johnson said that the win was the best game the Cardinal had played all season.

Stanford will lean heavily on the Lopez twins to slow Washington’s big men. They started together for the first time against Virginia and netted a combined 27 points. Both are playing their best basketball of the season at the right time as conference play begins. Robin has averaged 15 points over his last three games, while Brook has averaged 11 over the same span.

The Huskies can expect an especially chilly reception in Maples tonight: It will mark Tim Morris’ first trip back to the Farm since he transferred from Stanford after last season. Morris, who scored six points in the Cardinal’s dramatic victory last year, is sitting out this season because of NCAA transfer rules.

Tip-off is set for 7:30.