The sweep Stanford men’s basketball suffered on its Washington trip last year is just one example of a disturbing trend — the Cardinal is just 1-7 in its last eight games in the Evergreen State.

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Sammy Abusrur

Anthony Goods and the Cardinal look to overcome their recent struggles in Washington this weekend, starting tonight against the Huskies. Stanford rolls into Seattle tied for the second spot in the Pac-10.

Even the 2003-04 team, the one that simply could not lose with Mike Montgomery at the helm, was stymied in Seattle. They were 26-0 entering that game against the Huskies. They left 26-1, suffering a 75-62 defeat — the team’s only loss of the regular season.

So when exactly was the last time Stanford (16-3, 5-2 Pac-10) won at Washington (12-8, 3-4) and Washington State (17-2, 5-2)? Even fifth-year senior Fred Washington can’t remember.

“I don’t even know,” he said. “I just know I’ve never won there, and I don’t think the class before me won there. Going to Washington is pretty good for us at this time in the season, because our ranking means nothing.”

Indeed, it will be hard for the No. 14 Cardinal to be too cocky on a trip the team last swept in 2002. That’s what Fred Washington fears for his young teammates, winners of three straight.

But head coach Trent Johnson set the tone early and often in his Tuesday press conference with the media.

“The thing that’s always caused us a problem is that they’re explosive, like UCLA or USC is,” he said of the Huskies. “We have to limit their transition baskets and they’re extremely explosive and an extremely good rebounding team. They’ve really handled us up there and we’ve been really fortunate here to win those close games.”

Jon Brockman is a force in the post, averaging 19 points and a league-best 11 rebounds per game in the paint. Like Brook Lopez, Brockman’s play also has him entertaining thoughts of jumping to the NBA after this season. Lopez has dominated the competition he’s faced since his academic suspension ended this December, so expect pro scouts nationwide to be watching this battle intently.

But perhaps no one will care more about tonight’s 7 p.m. game than the Huskies’ Tim Morris. Morris signed with Mike Montgomery and Stanford in 2003, but was not a fit in Trent Johnson’s system. Thus, following the 2005-06 season, his redshirt sophomore year, the 6-foot-4 guard transferred to play for his cousin Lorenzo Romar and the up-tempo Huskies. Morris had to sit out last year per NCAA regulations, but he’s averaging eight points and four rebounds in 35 minutes per game this year.

“I don’t think he sees it as a big deal, and we’re really not looking at it like that,” said Washington, who added that he also seriously considered transferring after Montgomery left to coach the Golden State Warriors following the 2003-04 season. “He’d been throwing around maybe transferring and then when the coach change happened and no one was happy, he was [the] only one.”

Morris’ sister, Tiffany, is a current Stanford undergraduate. Washington said he thought Morris might try to transfer back to the Farm in the spring in order to graduate with a Stanford degree.

Brook and Robin Lopez will also match up tonight against Quincy Pondexter, their fellow 2006 graduate of San Joaquin Memorial High and a starting forward for the Huskies.

Despite Stanford’s horrible history in Washington, the Cardinal enters tonight as two-point favorites, in large part because of a defensive discrepancy between the two schools. Buoyed by the Lopez twins’ presence in the paint, Stanford is allowing an average of 58 points per Pac-10 game. Washington’s backcourt, meanwhile, is athletic but undisciplined defensively. They allow 69 points per Pac-10 contest.

While tonight’s tip may carry more personal implications, the bigger game from a basketball standpoint is Saturday’s high-noon battle with No. 9 Washington State, whose defense allows a league-best 54 points per game. After a 14-0 start, the Cougars lost 81-74 to UCLA in a battle for Pac-10 supremacy. They were lucky to split last weekend, losing 76-64 at Arizona before coming back from an 11-point first-half deficit to steal a 56-55 win over Arizona State. Even so, if both the Cardinal and the Cougars take care of business tonight, Saturday’s game will be a battle for second place in the conference; both teams are currently one loss behind No. 5 UCLA (18-2, 6-1) in the conference standings.

The Cougars are probably the Pac-10 team most similar to Stanford this year: nothing special offensively, but suffocating play on the other end of the court.

Guard Derrick Low (14 points per game) and Australian post Aron Baynes (12 points) are the scoring leaders for a team that handles the ball incredibly well — Washington State leads the conference in turnover margin and assist-to-turnover ratio.

If the Cougars have the edge on the perimeter, however, Stanford will have the advantage down low, as they almost always do. The Card leads the Pac-10 with 39 rebounds per game. Washington State is dead-last at 30.