After a weekend trip to the Washington schools, Arizona State (8-15, 4-9 Pac-12) returns to Tempe this weekend to take on Oregon and Oregon State. Over two months have passed since the Sun Devils traveled to Eugene to visit the Ducks in one of the Pac-12’s non-pairing crossover games, and much has changed for Dana Altman’s squad.
In December, Altman – much like Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley – was continuing to find a rhythm with a new group filled with multiple transfers. The Ducks added Syracuse’s Quincy Guerrier and Oklahoma’s De’Vion Harmon to the lineup via the transfer portal and struggled early in the season, losing to BYU by 32 and Houston by 29.
With a list of problems to solve, ASU went to Oregon and defeated the Ducks in overtime after a late-clock heave from DJ Horne sent the game into extra time, and some timely plays in the extra period came to fruition. The win far from solved the Sun Devils’ issues but represented somewhat of a turning point for the Ducks, who are 12-4 since.
“It’s a big game for us,” said Hurley ahead of Thursday’s matchup with Oregon (17-8, 10-4 Pac-12). “We’ve played them pretty well. It was kind of a turning point for our season the last time we played Oregon. Things were not going well, and then we played considerably better from that game on.
“We’ve had some moments where we regressed, but for the most part, it’s been better. It’s been a better team to coach.”
At home in conference play, the Sun Devils have shown flashes of stellar play, most notably in an upset over then-No. 3 UCLA two weeks ago. Altman’s mid-season adjustments have pushed the Ducks into a tie for second place in the conference with an opportunity to cut into that deficit with a revenge game against the Sun Devils Thursday and their lone matchup with Arizona on Saturday night.
“They are different. They are playing better,” Hurley said of the Ducks now in comparison to when ASU matched up with them previously. “Their record shows that.”
Part of the turnaround for Oregon has been more consistent guard play from senior Will Richardson. The preseason All-Pac-12 selection leads Oregon in scoring with 15.1 points per game while also leading the Ducks in assists with 3.5 per game in that category. Aside from Richardson, the clear-cut leader of the Ducks, Hurley said he’s noticed more consistency from junior center, N’Faly Dante.
“They are kind of like us, too, with a lot of new players,” Hurley continued. “Their team has come together, and they are playing better than they were early in the season. It’s going to be a tough game. They are on the bubble and right in the mix.”
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects the Ducks as one of the “Last Four In” in his latest bracketology report. Unlike the Ducks, whose tournament hopes are very much alive, Oregon State’s are not.
Fresh off a trip to the Elite Eight, Wayne Tinkle’s group has fallen back to the cellar of the Pac-12. The Beavers (3-20, 1-12) sit at the bottom of the conference standings and are one of the teams Arizona State should be a legitimate favorite over head-to-head.
“It’s not about seeding or where you’re going to finish,” Hurley said of the finishing stretch of games. “It’s more like, ‘are you feeling like when you step on the court you should win every game?’ The more games we can win, the more confidence we should have and the more expectation we can have that we could go to Vegas legitimately and win games to try to extend our season.”
To do so, Arizona State will need to see continued dominance from junior forward Jalen Graham. Over the past ten games, Graham is scoring 13.9 points per game, grabbing 6.2 rebounds per contest and shooting 50 percent from the floor. The consistent numbers from the local product show a stark turnaround from the first 11 games of the season, as Graham has more than doubled his per-game averages in points, rebounds, and assists in those spans.
In order for ASU to succeed, the defensive end of the floor still must be the strong suit of this team. That point was given further evidence Thursday night as the Sun Devils struggled to stop Washington’s offense and allowed the game to slip out of hand.
“When we lost against Washington, it was our defense that has been a staple for the year that just wasn’t there for that game,” said super senior forward Kimani Lawrence, whose averaging 10.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. “And just hitting open shots. We get a lot of open shots that sometimes just won’t fall. Staying confident and hitting those shots should help us a lot.”
Hurley said he felt as if the Sun Devils are competing well in recent weeks, and a hard-fought victory over Washington State Saturday night represented progress.
“We’ve been knocking on the door in a bunch of games, and we’ve had some quality wins,” Hurley said Wednesday. “I think we have confidence that we can compete with anybody. Now, we’ve got to try to string them together and do it consistently.”
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