Anthony Goods has Washington State’s number. In three career games against the Cougars, the sophomore guard has twice hit game-winning shots. When Stanford and then-No. 23 Washington State squared off at Maples Pavilion less than a month ago, Goods scored 30 points and hit a contested three-pointer in the closing seconds of overtime to give the Cardinal a 71-68 win.

So is Goods looking for game-winner No. 3 against the No. 14 Cougars when No. 25 Stanford (15-6, 7-3 Pacific-10 Conference) travels to Pullman tonight?

“Every game is a grind against Washington State,” Goods said. “It seems like they are all close, no matter what. This week’s game will probably be close too, but hopefully we won’t need a last-second game-winner to win this one.”

It took a career night from Goods to beat Washington State at home in January. Without an individual performance like that, beating the Cougars at all — let alone by a comfortable margin — will not be easy. Washington State (19-4, 8-3 Pac-10) has lost by more than three points just once this season, and that came back on Dec. 2 in a 69-55 defeat at Utah. Add to that one of the best home-court advantages in the conference and taking down the Cougars at Friel Court seems like a tricky proposition.

“They are really consistent from start to finish,” Stanford head coach Trent Johnson said. “Kyle Weaver is really good. Derrick [Low] is really good. You’re talking two all-league players there. [Daven] Harmeling — my goodness, he is special. But it is not like it is a shock. When you look at their demeanor and their composure, they expect to beat people.”

It may not be shocking to see the Cougars win now, but at the beginning of the season there were far more skeptics than believers in first-year head coach Tony Bennett. The Cougars were picked 10th in the Pac-10 media poll by a comfortable margin. Entering this weekend’s action, they are ranked No. 14 in both the AP and USA Today polls, matching their highest ranking ever.

Junior guard Low and junior forward Weaver have been the difference makers for Washington State this season. Low, the three-time “Mr. Basketball” for Hawaii’s high schools, leads the team with 15.0 points per game. Weaver plays a more balanced game, scoring 11.3 points per game and collecting 5.7 rebounds per game, while dishing out a team-best 114 assists over the season. Weaver notched the first triple-double in school history earlier this year against the Cardinal.

Harmeling, too, has stepped up in recent weeks. The sophomore guard was named Pac-10 Player of the Week last week after leading the Cougars to a sweep of the Arizona schools in the desert. He averaged 14 points over the two games and hit a crucial shot in the final moments of WSU’s 72-66 win at then-No. 20 Arizona.

Harmeling keyed the Cougars’ late rally when Washington State visited Maples on Jan. 13. He hit a pair of three-pointers on a late 10-1 run as the Cougars overcame a nine-point deficit to force overtime. The comeback erased 35 minutes of hard work by Stanford and set up Goods’ heroics.

“Watching our game tape against them here, we were very fortunate,” Johnson said. “Anthony played really well, and we made some crucial baskets at crucial times. But from the game tape, you would think we were on the losing side.”

“We know that if we ever get a nine-point lead with a couple minutes left, we have to hold it,” Goods said. “They are a tough defensive team, and we have to take care of the ball a lot better than last time. We had a lot of turnovers, and against a team like Washington State that doesn’t turn the ball over, every possession matters. We have to rebound and control the boards. If we can do all those things, hopefully we can get another win.”

A road win for the Cardinal would put the team in great position in a very tight Pac-10 race. With his team just one and a half games behind first-place UCLA, sophomore forward Lawrence Hill said every game takes on added significance.

“We need to go out and win out,” said Hill, who is sixth in the conference in scoring with 16.6 points per game. “We can’t afford to lose. Given the way we played against every team, we know we can hang with them. It’s not like our losses like Oregon and Arizona were blowouts. We have to win out. Our goal is a Pac-10 championship.”

Winning in Pullman this season has been a difficult task for anyone but the Cougars. While Stanford is 6-2 away from Maples, Washington State is 10-1 at Friel Court, which has become one of the most hostile gyms in the conference.

“It seems like the gyms weren’t this loud last season,” Goods said. “Home and away, it seems like it is a piercing noise every game. It is going to be tough to win on the road. But good teams win games on the road, so we’ll see what we can do.”

But, as always, Hill is confident.

“We have a phrase we use on the road: ‘We all we got,’” Hill said. “We usually say it when the refs give home-court calls, or the other team makes a run and the crowd is against you. We feel comfortable on the road because it brings us together. We count on each other more.”

The Cardinal downed the Cougars, 39-37, last season in Pullman, Wash. on a tip-in by Goods with 3.7 seconds remaining in the game. Stanford has won four straight games against WSU.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight. The game will not be broadcast on television.