Rain washes out NASCAR’s final practices for Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Rain washed out the final two practices Saturday before NASCAR’s seasonopening Daytona 500, a potential setback for the nine drivers switching cars before “The Great American Race.”
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
It may not be the season Arizona State basketball coach Bobby Hurley had envisioned, but he has been pleased with the resiliency his Sun Devils have shown in recent games.
They’re going to have to keep displaying that because things aren’t going to get any easier with Pac-12 play heading into the stretch. The Sun Devils (6-9, 3-6) are coming off a 75-64 loss to Oregon on Thursday. Next up is a 5 p.m. showdown against Oregon State (10-9, 6-7) on Sunday at Desert Financial Arena.
The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
Hurley will be missing at least two players and could be without as many as five against a team to whom his lost earlier this season on the road 80-79 on a dunk at the buzzer.
The Sun Devils were down to just eight scholarship players against the Ducks after both freshman forward Marcus Bagley and junior forward Chris Osten went down with ankle injuries late in Wednesday’s practice. Freshman guard Josh Christopher (leg) also was injured. Christopher started on Wednesday but then took a hard fall after blocking a shot three minutes into the game and Hurley later pulled him.
And that was after Hurley knew he was going to be without junior Taeshon Cherry (personal) and freshman Pavlo Dziuba (COVID).
“Not disappointed, really, with the effort we put forth. I thought we shot it a little quick at times in the first half and just a couple of no-pass possessions we couldn’t really afford to have,” Hurley said after Thursday’s setback.
The Sun Devils have had 10 players miss games with eight of those missing multiple contests. The game Sunday will likely be the fourth in which ASU will compete without as many as four players and will be the eighth without two or more.
Yes, at this point it is more about trying to establish some rhythm on both ends of the floor and attempting to get players healthy in time for the Pac-12 tournament in March than it is about climbing in the standings or establishing a postseason resume.
There is still no word on making up any of the seven virus-related cancellations.
“I just think that we cant focus on that yet. We still have a lot of growth I think and potential. Those are dangerous words but we have to treat every game like it’s our last game right now and see what that looks like in three to four weeks once we’re able to aggressively try and play as many games as we can that we lost,” Hurley said. “Our administration and the Pac-12 conference is working hard behind the scenes to try and make up as many of those games as possible and then we’ll see what our record looks like and what we need to accomplish in the Pac-12 Tournament.”
The bright spot in Thursday’s loss was the play of senior point guard Remy Martin who is looking more like the player that made a run at conference player of the year honors a year ago. He scored 30 against the Ducks, and while he wasn’t necessarily efficient, he was working hard at both ends of the floor and displaying the heart that has made him a favorite of the fan base.
Sophomore Jalen Graham has also continued to progress after missing three games with mononucleosis.
“It just sucks that we’re fighting through injuries, we just came back. We were playing hard, had a good practice, lost two guys then we lost another guy in the second half. It’s just hard, but we kept fighting and we showed our toughness, for sure,” he said after Thursday’s game.
Oregon State comes in looking to bounce back from a 70-61 loss at Arizona on Thursday. The Beavers are led by senior point guard Ethan Thompson (15.6 ppg). ASU will also have to look out for sophomore Jarod Lucas (12.6 ppg), a dangerous 3-point threat.