Stanford learned this week that “old man” Fred Washington will return next season after gaining an extra year of eligibility from an injury hardship waiver. But with its sights set squarely on Southern California this week, the Cardinal will need the senior forward’s aggressiveness now more than ever.

“His intensity and desire you can see from watching games,” sophomore guard Mitch Johnson said. “He’s been there before.”

Stanford (17-8, 9-5 Pacific-10 Conference) heads to USC tonight tied with the Trojans for third in the Pac-10 standings and looking to improve its play on the road. For its part, USC (19-8, 9-5) will seek to avenge last month’s 65-50 defeat at Maples Pavilion, as well as last week’s 68-58 upset loss at Arizona State.

“Theoretically, teams play better at home than they do on the road,” Stanford head coach Trent Johnson said. “This is a team that, much like us, has a lot to play for at this time.”

“They’ll probably be even hungrier to get this game against us,” added Washington, a Los Angeles native who said he enjoys playing at home.

Enjoyable or not, the Cardinal knows it must come out strong against a Trojan team with revenge on its mind and a 13-3 record at home.

“It’s different this time around, playing there,” sophomore forward Lawrence Hill said. “We were able to play well at home; we can’t count on that on the road. They’re going to be comfortable and come on the attack.”

Stanford has a 5-3 road record on the season but has dropped two of its last three away from Maples.

“Our away games are going to be important,” Hill said. “We blew some at Washington, and we lost one at Arizona, so we have to come and play just like it was our home game.”

Hill, who leads Stanford with 15.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game away from Stanford, attributed the recent road woes to a lack of energy against teams that the Cardinal had previously beaten at home.

“We were very lackadaisical,” he said. “[The Washington schools] came onto our court and we were the aggressors. Then, we thought we could be the aggressors without actually doing it.”

But Johnson said his players were being too hard on themselves.

“We just ran into two teams that were better than we were,” he said. “It’s hard for everybody to understand that, but they were.”

“If we defend, rebound and take care of the ball, we have a chance to beat anybody,” he said. “If we don’t do all facets of those three things, then we’re going to struggle, and that has nothing to do with scoring the ball.”

Hill, who dropped 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting against the Trojans last month, echoed his coach’s words.

“If you don’t go on the court and play with aggressiveness, you’re not going to win no matter who it is,” he said. “Like Mitch says a lot before we go on the court: ‘It doesn’t matter who we play. They put on their shorts the same way we do.’”

USC boasts four players averaging double figures in points, led by junior guard Nick Young’s 17.2. The Trojans favor isolation plays on offense, looking to take opponents one-on-one.

Stanford’s defense had a field day with USC’s isolation offense the last time the two met, blocking a school-record 19 shots. Freshman forward Brook Lopez had Stanford’s first recorded triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and a school-record 12 blocks.

But Johnson said he didn’t expect USC to change its approach.

“Well, I don’t know why they would,” he said. “They won their share of games in their system. I expect them to do what they’ve been doing all year long...They are who they are.”

Stanford will again be without sophomore guard Anthony Goods, who is nursing a high ankle sprain. Goods is currently wearing a protective boot and will be reevaluated next week after the boot is removed, Johnson said.

Likely to be without Goods for its four remaining conference games, Stanford’s focus hasn’t changed — the Pac-10 tournament and a NCAA berth.

Asked how many more wins the team needed, Hill was candid.

“We’d like to have four,” he said.