Any other weekend, the answer would be predictable. “It’s just another game,” goes Stanford’s standard response to inquiries regarding the importance of any particular contest. But tonight’s game?

“It’s a pretty big deal,” senior forward Fred Washington said.

No. 7 Stanford (24-4, 13-3 Pac-10) travels to Los Angeles with a lot on the line. A conference regular season title. A top seed in next week’s Pac-10 Tournament. Perhaps even the difference between a two or three seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Tonight, the Cardinal takes on No. 3 UCLA (26-3, 14-2), a team that has been ranked in the top 10 all year and likely a contender for the national championship. But Stanford can control its own destiny against the Bruins. A win tonight would put the team in position for a co-regular season conference title (provided Stanford takes care of business Saturday against USC) for the Cardinal and give the team a top seed in the Pac-10 tournament, which begins next Wednesday.

But beating the Bruins will take scaling the basketball equivalent of a brick wall. That is, 6-10, 270-pound freshman big man Kevin Love.

Love, who averaged 21 points and 13.5 rebounds as UCLA swept the Arizona schools last weekend, is a rare match for the Lopez twins inside. Robin Lopez will draw the defensive assignment, but both twins fouled out struggling to contain Love the last time the two teams met, a 76-67 UCLA win at Maples Jan. 3.

“We’re going to do what we always do, and make him work for everything he can get,” head coach Trent Johnson said of his strategy against Love. “We’ll play Robin on him and try to beat him to his sweet spot. If he catches in the post, we’ll try to stay down and play hard and aggressive.”

Playing hard and aggressive is the mantra for both teams, especially on the defensive end. Stanford and UCLA both rank among the top four in the conference in points allowed, opponents’ field goal percentage, opponents’ 3-point percentage, rebounding defense, rebounding margin and blocked shots. As physical as any team in the Pac-10, the Bruins, Trent Johnson said, “don’t have any weaknesses.”

That’s because, along with Love inside, the Bruins boast a potent presence on the perimeter, including speedy guards Darren Collison (14.3 points, 4.1 assists per game) and Russell Westbrook (12.4 points, 4.6 assists).

“We have to play well,” Johnson said. “There hasn’t been a team that’s beaten them all year that hasn’t played well. We need to play well.”

Stanford played well, but not well enough, in January’s loss. The Cardinal hung tough until a late surge by the Bruins — fueled by junior swingman Josh Shipp’s five 3-pointers — put the game out of reach.

Since then, however, Stanford players said their squad has grown by leaps and bounds. “It’s night and day,” junior guard Anthony Goods said. “I think we’re coming together, showing the team chemistry that we’ve had. It’s a completely different team.”

After coming short against the Bruins, in subsequent games Stanford demonstrated an ability to rally from behind. Just last Saturday, the Cardinal erased a 14-point first-half deficit to down then-No. 22 Washington State 60-53.

“We have a strong mentality as a team,” Goods, a Southern California native, said. “We’ve been down before, we’ve come back, sometimes we haven’t come back. We’re going to keep fighting regardless of what the score is.”

Both teams are bearing down for tonight’s physical affair. The team that limits mistakes and maintains poise and composure among the hard screens and flying elbows will likely emerge on top. Neither, it seems, wants to be the first to blink.

“I doubt they’re going to switch up their style of play for us,” Washington said, “Because we aren’t going to do it for them.”

Goods agreed. Despite the ramifications, he said, the team is approaching the match-up like any other.

“We haven’t done anything differently,” he said. “It just feels like another Pac-10 game.”

Yet Goods could not omit the obvious.

“It’s probably,” he admitted, “the most important game of the year right now.”