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STANFORD, Calif. — Tiger Woods probably won't be sitting courtside. Neither team is ranked, and both are coming off stinging losses.

But there are still some compelling trends and figures to watch in tonight's Arizona-Stanford game at Maples Pavilion.

Here are five of them:

1. This isn't your dad's Stanford. UA interim head coach Russ Pennell frequently notes that his team isn't "your dad's Arizona," and neither is Stanford its usual self. The Cardinal — for so many years loaded with big men and savvy, physical perimeter players — is running for its life on the court without the Lopez twins to bail it out inside.

For the most part, save for its 90-60 loss to ASU on Friday, it has been working. Stanford was 10-0 entering the weekend and forcing 18.6 turnovers on average from opponents.

"I just think what (Stanford coach) Johnny Dawkins has done has been good," Pennell said. "He's played to his strengths, which is: He's got some pretty good athletes, and they put pressure on you."

Fortunately for Dawkins, transitioning from a slow style to a fast one is usually more welcomed by players than going from fast to slow.

"I thought they'd be excited to play the way we wanted to play, and they haven't disappointed me with that," said Dawkins, who is in his first season at Stanford. "It's a matter of habits for us. We're in the process of developing them."

Part of the problem, forward Lawrence Hill said, was dealing with all the freedom the new system brought.

"We didn't really know what to do with it," Hill said. "But we grew into it. We're smart guys."

2. Somebody will bounce back. Arizona and Stanford were blown out by double digits on Friday in their Pac-10 openers, and both teams know the pressure of falling quickly behind in the Pac-10 race.

"We have to" beat Stanford, UA point guard Nic Wise said. "You don't want to start off 0-2 in the Pac-10."

Pennell took a calm approach after holding a meeting and practice on Saturday.

"The big thing with (Friday) night is there's no sense of panic," Pennell said. "I think a lot of people are going to lose at Cal. They're pretty darn good. … Today, the guys were in a pretty good place. I didn't see guys hanging their heads, but I could sense that they were stunned."

Stanford also had a calm mentality Saturday after losing its first game, Hill said. He just hoped it wasn't too calm.

"It wasn't really guys being down, but it's a lot quieter and a lot focused, which isn't what we want," Hill said. "We want people to be energized and have emotion."

3. Standouts can't shoot much worse. Stanford's top shooter, Anthony Goods, was 2 of 12 from the field Friday and missed 6 of 7 three-pointers. But Arizona's Chase Budinger is mired in a deeper shooting funk, having shot 20.5 percent from the field in his past three games.

Budinger was 4 for 16 against Cal, but Pennell said he expected him to rebound soon. (Budinger was not available for comment Friday or Saturday.)

"Chase is fine," Pennell said. "He got in and worked on his shot (Saturday). He's real close to busting out. I really believe that."

4. Familiar face: Just as the UA faced a former Wildcat assistant coach in Jay John on Friday, today they will face Rodney Tention, a former UA assistant who was fired as Loyola Marymount's head coach last spring. He joined Dawkins' staff.

Tention said he was introduced to Dawkins, who has the same agent, and spoke to him initially on the phone during the hiring process.

"I got pretty lucky," Tention said. "He's a pretty classy guy. Really classy. I'm very fortunate to be working for him."

Dawkins said he knew of Tention when the two were assistant coaches — Tention at the UA and Dawkins at Duke — and said he had admired him for his work with the Wildcats.

"I kind of observe people and could tell he was a real classy guy," Dawkins said.

Tention said he would like to be a head coach again, but is not focused on it now.

"That's not my only goal here," he said. "I'm trying to help Coach (Dawkins) be successful."

5. Ghosts of Arizona losses: Not only was Dawkins on the coaching staff at Duke when the Blue Devils beat the UA for the 2001 NCAA title, but his associate head coach, Dick Davey, was the head coach at Santa Clara when the Broncos beat the Wildcats in the first round of the 1993 NCAA tournament.

Dawkins didn't know much about Davey's well-regarded 15-year stint at Santa Clara until he began hearing about Davey while filling out his staff last spring. "Coaches kept mentioning that he'd be terrific," Dawkins said, "so I did my homework and found out he retired. I was like, 'What?' "

Then Dawkins went out and unretired him.

"We sat down, went to lunch, and bonded right away. I felt so comfortable. I said, 'If he'll want the job, I'm going to offer it to him right away.' "