For now Low is barefoot, dressed in gray WSU sweatpants and a gray T-shirt with "HAWAII" in white letters across the chest. His cell phone hangs from his waistband. When his brother Dustin, 26, calls to chat, the phone pumps out the beat to "Nolia Clap" by rap group UTP.

On most weekdays, Low has little time for lounging. He has classes from 8 a.m. to noon, practice from 1:30 to 4, and homework until he goes to bed at 10:30. In between, he has to eat, do laundry, and keep contact with the outside world.

"On game days we don't really do anything," he says.

Low's roommate is teammate Chris Henry, a 6-foot-9 freshman center from Santa Ana, Calif. Henry has a purple and blue fuzzy "pimp hat" hanging on the wall and four Harry Potter novels lined up neatly on his desk. Don't try to figure him out.

Low's eyes stay transfixed on the TV screen while Henry plays "Halo 2" on his X-Box. The game throws Henry into the occasional outburst of military commands and words unfit for young ears. Low calls Henry a kolohe (rascal) and says his roommate is best-described as "mischievous." Henry gives an innocent "Who, me?" grin and goes back to blasting aliens.

Their room is stereotypical college male.

The TV is surrounded by a DVD player, X-Box and Super Nintendo. About 60 movies and games are stacked nearby. The walls are covered with posters and pictures from home; Henry has the requisite John Belushi poster from "Animal House."

On Low's side are an album's worth of photos. There's a montage of him and his best friend and former Iolani teammate, Ryan Hirata, a freshman guard at Chaminade. Next to that is a letter written by his youngest fan, 6-year-old brother Chase.

Dear berrick,
I love you very much. Stuby harb anb play goob
dasketdall.
Chase Low

"I miss everything about Hawai'i," Low says, repeating the last part for emphasis.

"Evvvvverything."

He runs down the list: the food, the beaches, the warm weather, the smell of the ocean...

"School's out on May 3. As soon as that's over, I'm on the plane back to Hawai'i," he says.

Derrick Low says he felt he needed to go to the Mainland to improve his game, but says he misses "evvvvverything" about HawaiÔi. Austin Burton • Special to The Advertiser

"I kind of wanted to get away from home, get away from the island. The island will always be there," Low says. "I knew if I wanted to get better, I had to play against top-notch competition like the Pac-10."

In 17 games, Low is averaging 6.9 points, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals for the Cougars (10-12 overall, 5-8 in the Pac-10). It's nowhere near the numbers he used to put up at Iolani, when he would routinely score 20-plus points and get 10-plus assists. Then again, this isn't Iolani.

"It's a big difference. There's no comparison," he says. "Hawai'i is such a small place, so isolated, that the competition is limited. Here, every single day — in practice and the games — is a competition."

In a mid-October preseason practice, Low jumped to block a shot and came down on a teammate's foot.

His right foot was broken, shelving him for seven weeks.

Low made his debut against Gonzaga on Dec. 7, coming off the bench for 10 minutes. He missed all three of his shots. And although he wasn't even on the court for the final play — a missed 3-pointer by teammate Josh Akognon — Low still blames himself for the 54-52 loss.

"If I had made one of my 3s, we would have beaten them," he says.

The season hasn't been without highlights. Against Arizona on Jan. 29, Low's 13 points and six assists helped WSU beat the Wildcats for the first time since 1986. In a win over USC on Feb. 5, he had eight points and a career-high eight assists. And in a loss to Oregon on this past Saturday, he scored a career-high 19 points.

On the way to a shootaround, Low and Henry hook up with some of their crew: forward Daven Harmeling, guard Alex Kirk and center Robbie Cowgill. Along with the Cougars' two other freshmen — Akognon and swingman Kyle Weaver — this class is as tight as any group of teammates.

Sometimes all seven of them pile into Cowgill's 2001 Pontiac Vibe station wagon for trips to practice or the mall. The runts of the group, Kirk (5 feet 9) and Akognon (5 feet 11), squeeze into the trunk.

In the shootaround, the team walks through its game plan for UCLA. On Jan. 6, WSU took the Bruins to double-overtime before losing by three. So the awe of playing college basketball's most storied program has washed away for the Cougars, or at least for their freshman point guard.

"They were a successful program...in the past," Low says as he heads into the locker room.

Game time. The Cougars jump to an early lead and look sharp. On one play, Low freezes UCLA freshman point Jordan Farmar, a McDonald's All-American, with a left-to-right shoulder fake. Once in the lane, Low feeds a left-handed wraparound pass to senior forward Chris Schlatter for an open jumper. The crowd roars.

Later, Low drives past Farmar again, but has his shot blocked by 7-footer Ryan Hollins as he's sent tumbling into the basket support. The crowd groans.

This definitely isn't Iolani.

UCLA comes back and Low is struggling, missing his first nine shots. Finally, in overtime, he makes a long two-pointer from the top of the key. A minute later, he hits another from the same spot. But WSU can't stop UCLA senior wing Dijon Thompson, who hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send it into overtime, then knocks down the game-winning shot with five seconds left.

UCLA 58, WSU 56. Low's line: 4 points on 2-for-11 shooting, two assists and no turnovers.

The ride home is quiet. Everyone in the car replays what could have been. Cowgill fouled out. Henry played four minutes and didn't contribute anything to the box score. Low missed a layup in regulation that could have sealed a win.

But he can't dwell on the loss for too long. There are still games to be played, still business to be handled.

That, and an 8 a.m. Communications Studies class the next morning.