For Washington State, seeking its first Pac-12 tournament win since 2009, it’s a good thing this beat-each-other-up league has featured a good deal of parity all season.

It means first-year coach Kyle Smith and his sliding, 11th-seeded Cougs have a legitimate chance to snap that bleak streak tonight.

Wazzu (15-16, 6-12 Pac-12), which has lost six of its past seven games, meets slumping Colorado at 8:30 p.m. Pacific at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena (Pac-12 Network).

The Buffaloes (21-10, 10-8), perhaps the conference’s best defensive team at No. 25 in the country according to KenPom.com, have dropped four straight, including an ugly defeat at Cal, and an overtime upset loss to Utah on Saturday.

“I think, going to Vegas, everyone feels good about their chances,” Smith said before his team left on its Arizona trip, where it stumbled in the second halves in losing both games. “Like I’ve said, we’ve been good, kinda, against the top of the league.”

Before the trip, the Cougars had a chance to enter the tournament as high as the eighth seed, further demonstrating how well-matched the middle of the Pac-12 is.

The primary emphasis for the Cougs — coming in at No. 11 for the third consecutive year — will be to fine tune an offense that’s been erratic during the season. Against Arizona, WSU “went up five to down 20 pretty quick,” Smith said. The Wildcats had a 26-0 second-half spurt to win by 21 points, capitalizing on a slow outing for All-Pac-12 sophomore forward CJ Elleby, and a hand injury that kept durable senior post Jeff Pollard sidelined.

Two days later, Arizona State survived a late rally and edged out an 83-74 victory against the Cougars. Point guard Isaac Bonton, who had 21 points against Arizona, was 5-for-25 and committed 11 turnovers, and Elleby was 0-for-10 from 3-point range.

Elleby, who is fourth in the league in scoring at 18 points per game, shot 6-for-33 overall and 1-for-14 from 3-point land in the desert.

“He’s fine, shots just aren’t falling,” Smith said. “He’s made a lot of big shots for us, made some good shots against (the Sun Devils). I feel good about him.”

Pollard (8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds per game), a 6-foot-9 defensive captain who’s been nicked up all season, missed both Arizona games — the first games he’s missed. He had a wrap around his left hand, but he’s probable to play tonight.

Freshman 7-footer Vova Markovetskyy, who’s seen his playing time increase steadily recently, had an efficient 11 points and 10 rebounds in Pollard’s stead in Tempe, and Tony Miller — who’d missed a month with an ankle injury — had a career night with 21 points (9-for-12) and eight rebounds. Markovetskyy was dealing with foul trouble.

The two forwards likely will need to have another solid combined outing, as will Bonton (15.3 points, four assists per game). Bonton, WSU’s point guard, still is getting his feet under him after missing three consecutive games in mid-February with a hip injury.

“It’s a really important position, obviously,” Smith said. “Teams that I’ve coached, usually we have a point guard that’s a threat to score. He’s your quarterback. It’s not a game manager. It’s not Trent Dilfer, he’s more Michael Vick.”

The last time these two teams faced each other, Colorado used a late run created through defense and a 45-28 edge in rebounding to turn a close game into a runaway win, defeating WSU 78-56 in Boulder on Jan. 23.

Then, Wazzu was injury-riddled, and the Buffs were without guard Tyler Bey, the league’s defensive player of the year.

Bey — strong and long at 6-7 and 216 pounds — led the Pac-12 in rebounding (9.0 per game), while averaging 1.53 steals (fifth in the conference) and 13.7 points per game. Junior McKinley Wright IV was named a first-teamer and also an all-defensive player. The quick, 6-foot guard averages 14.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists each time out.

Under 10th-year coach Tad Boyle, Colorado has compiled its second consecutive 20-win season. The Buffs knocked WSU from the conference tournament in 2016 and 2017. The Cougs’ last win at the event was under Tony Bennett, and it came against Oregon — then coached by former Cougs boss Ernie Kent. WSU lost to the Ducks by 33 points in last year’s tournament.

If Wazzu’s Pac-12 tournament losing streak increases to 11 years, the team still will have the chance to accept a bid to the College Basketball Invitational. Colorado enters as a nine-point favorite, according to VegasInsider.com.

But the Cougs have made noise as underdogs before. This unpredictable league has not been lacking on parity.

Clark may be reached at cclark@lmtribune.com, on Twitter @ClarkTrib or by phone at (208) 848-2260.