ASU BASKETBALL
ASU coach Bobby Hurley and his Sun Devils get back into action tonight against Washington State in Tempe. On Saturday, they will host Pac-12 leader Washington.
Arizona State men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils will be facing a now-familiar challenge when they next take the floor.
The Sun Devils (15-6, 6-3) are coming an emotional 95-88 win over rival Arizona and twill be facing one of the teams they should beat — Washington State (8-14, 1-8) — Thursday at 6 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.
ASU faced a similar situation after beating Kansas, California, and UCLA. Each of those wins was followed by losses in should-win games against Princeton, Stanford, and USC, respectively.
The Sun Devils enter Thursday’s game second in the Pac-12 behind Washington, whom it will play Saturday. Their position in the postseason is still tenuous, so they can’t afford a slipup against another team they should beat.
After this week, the Sun Devils round out the regular season with five of seven games on the road.
“It’s going to get more difficult after this week and this week’s going to be tough in itself,” Hurley said. “But you have to try and protect your home court.”
Despite its place in the standings, Washington State does pose a challenge. It does have some offensive weapons with senior forward Robert Franks owning a conference-best 21.4 scoring average and freshman C.J. Elleby (11.1 ppg) ranking eighth. Both are also in the top 10 in rebounding.
And ASU has at times struggled to defend the 3-point line. That became a point of emphasis for the Sun Devils in practice after Arizona hit 14 of its 28 tries a week ago.
Washington State, at 9.1, ranks second behind Utah in 3-point field goals per game. ASU ranks second in fieldgoal percentage defense (.404) but is sixth in 3-point defense (.330).
“We have to do a better of job of focusing on where their shooters are,” sophomore point guard Remy Martin said. “We can’t afford to give up open looks no matter who we’re playing.”
Asked if he thought his team was postseason worthy, Hurley said, “I like what we have done and how we’re playing, but that could change if we drop one we’re not supposed to, especially at home.”
Outlook: Washington State (8-14, 1-8) is next to last in the Pac-12, has lost five straight games and is 0-7 on the road as well as 0-3 in games on neutral floor, so this is a game ASU should win. Still, the Cougars do have some offensive weapons. Senior F Robert Franks (21.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg) leads the conference in scoring and ranks sixth in rebounding while freshman F C.J Elleby (15.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg) ranks 10th in scoring. The Cougars’ issues have come more at the defensive end as they rank 11th in scoring defense (79.5), 11th in field goal percentage defense (.479) and 11th in rebounding. WSU is coming off losses last week to USC (93-84) and UCLA (87-67) . .... ASU (15-6, 6-3) is coming off a 95-88 victory over rival Arizona.
Injury report: ASU will be without freshman Taeshon Cherry (concussion) who was originally injured against UCLA two weeks ago. He sat out the next game and came back last week.