Before his first appearance at Staples Center, UW freshman Isaiah Thomas said he wanted to "get his Kobe on" -- that is, play like Lakers star Kobe Bryant. Instead, he played like former Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal.

For the first time, the 5-foot-8 Thomas led UW in rebounding: a career-high nine.

"They came up long, so I was out there and they popped to me," he said. "It’s not like I was Jon (Brockman) just running after them. They came to me, so I just took it."

Clearly, playing at Staples meant something to Thomas, who admits that the games he played at Madison Square Garden hadn't meant as much to him.

"It was weird," he said. "Just thinking Kobe plays here, Shaq played here, and I was looking up before the game all the championship (banners). It was weird playing in a place like this."

He'll be back tomorrow. And there's every chance that he'll be back at another NBA arena a week from today, perhaps getting his B-Roy on at the Rose Garden in Portland.

USC beat Cal, 79-75, in a thrilling third game of today's four in the Pac-10 tournament at Staples Center in LA, and UCLA beat WSU 64-53 in the nightcap.

The results of the day leave the Huskies with a 5-1 record against the remaining tournament field: 2-0 against Arizona State (who they play at 6 p.m. Friday), 2-0 against USC and 1-1 against UCLA (who meet at 8:30 Friday).

Both of the semifinals will be on FSN. The two winners will advance to the championship game, 3 p.m. Saturday on CBS.

Final: UW, 85-73. Here's my game story.

The Huskies will meet Arizona State at 6 p.m. Friday for the right to go on to the Pac-10 tournament championship game Saturday afternoon.

"Going into this game – because we knew how tough Stanford had played us in our previous games – (we knew) they are dangeous offensively," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "But we came out and did a good job to get a vicotry. We probably turned the ball over far too many times, a little bit sloppy, but we did a good job in the second having of sharing the basketball and converting, and some guys stepped up and did really well. We’re just excited that we’re able to advance and play again."

Jon Brockman led UW with 20 points.

Isaiah Thomas (!) led UW with nine rebounds -- an indication of all the long shots Stanford launched, which led to long rebounds when they missed (which was about 65 percent of the time).

"I was out there and they popped to me," Thomas said. "It’s not like I was Jon just running after them. They came to me, so I just took it."

Some other UW reaction:
LORENZO ROMAR
On ASU: Another tough opponent. Arizona State just plays us to the wire and they make us really really work. We’re really going to have to do a great job of turning the page and getting ready for a tough Arizona State team, because they’re really difficult to play against.

ELSTON TURNER
On his three 3-pointers: I"’ve been waiting for it for a while. I havne’t had a game like that since we played Arizona there. It definitely felt nice and it kind of carried me into the second half and I was playing with a lot more confidence. I felt like I could make something happen other than just shooting threes."

JUSTIN DENTMON
ON playing as a No. 1 seed: "It just feels good to win the first game in the tournament. I haven’t done that in three years. … We feel that everybody is after us in a way. Some teams in this conference need a win to get into the tournament."

Halftime: UW, 38-35. Elston Turner hit three 3-pointers late, but Stanford hit a buzzer-beater off the glass to take some momentum into the locker room.

Stanford spent most of the first half firing away from long range and are shooting a not-surprising 38.2 percent. Washington, on the other hand, has been getting into the paint regularly, so they're 35.1 shooting percentage represents a lot of wasted points. In any case, that they'll have a chance to straighten that out because we're sitting right behind the bench and it's obvious the UW coaches don't believe Stanford has anyone to contend with the Huskies' inside game.

Landry Fields has 13 points for Stanford. TUrner and Brockman have nine each for UW and Justin Dentmon has eight.

Washington leads on the boards, 26-21. UW has 11 turnovers, Stanford 10. First team to straighten that out may advance.

Tipoff: UW and Stanford are underway in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinal. The Huskies went with their usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

Game 1: Arizona State just beat Arizona, 68-56, in the first of today's four Pac-10 tournament games at Staples Center.

That punches the Sun Devils' ticket to the semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday, meeting the winner of the Washington-Stanford game. It also just might have ended Arizona's amazing 24-season run in the NCAA tournament ... we'll see about that Sunday.

The Huskies swept ASU during the regular season, winning 84-71 in Tempe on Jan. 31 and 73-70 in overtime at Hec Ed on Feb. 26.

Here's what ASU coach Herb Sendek had to say about tipping off again in about 28 hours: "I think the biggest challenge for us is just going to be recovery. We just play such a limited roster we just don’t have a lot of latitude with substitutions. For us, our guys gave a lot today physically, mentally, emotionally, (and will have) to recharge with such a short turnaround. Some teams are better engineered for an event like this when you’re going to play consecutive games. I think for our basketball team, we’re going to have to really focus on recoveryand make sure that somehow we plug outselves in and are able to come out with energy."

The Huskies will open Pac-10 tournament action at 2:30 this afternoon, meeting ninth-seeded Stanford at Staples Center.

Staples, by the way, will be the first time UW freshman Isaiah Thomas of Tacoma appears on an NBA court, and he admitted that adds a little something for him.

"I’ll get my Kobe on -- try to be like (Lakers star Kobe Bryant) down there," he said. "This will be my first time playing down there and it’s going to be fun."

Someone speculated that it may not be his last NBA arena.

"Not my last one," Thomas agreed.