Pac-12 women’s tourney set to begin
Tournament play begins for the Pac-12 women this week with Arizona State and Arizona heading to Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
ASU (1-17) will open the tournament as the No. 12 seed against No. 5 UCLA (11-7) on Wednesday at 1 p.m. MT. The Sun Devils won its first conference game on Thursday in a 75-73 win at Oregon State.
Tyi Skinner finished the season second in scoring in the Pac-12 with 19.0 points per game and averaged the thirdmost minutes (36.3) in all 27 games. Jaddan Simmons finished second in minutes (36.5) in the conference.
Arizona (11-7) tied with UCLA and USC for fourth after dropping the last two contests at Oregon and OSU, but earned the fourth seed due to the 2-0 record against UCLA and USC. The Wildcats' Shaina Pellington is fifth in the Pac-12 in field goal percentage (54.2 percent).
The Wildcats will play the winner of the ASU and UCLA game to start Thursday’s action at 1 p.m. Arizona time. Arizona holds the league's second-longest active streak in securing a first-round bye at the tournament.
All 11 contests will be nationally televised, with the first three rounds of action from March this Wednesday through Friday set to air on Pac-12 Networks and the championship game on Sunday to be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.
ASU men looking to ride momentum
ASU received a boost following Saturday’s 89-88 win over Arizona and will continue to fight for its postseason hopes. Fifth-year senior Desmond Cambridge was named the Pac-12 men's basketball player of the week for a leagueleading third time. Cambridge scored 19 points with four rebounds and four assists in the game. His shot from beyond halfcourt for ASU at the buzzer was the difference in Saturday’s game.
The Sun Devils (20-9, 11-7) will close out its regular season on the road with UCLA on Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN and USC on Sunday at 9 p.m. on FS1.
ASU moved up eight spots to No. 59 in the all-important net rankings, a big move for this late in the season. The net rankings won’t have anything to do with what the NCAA committee will say on selection Sunday but it’s a good indication of where ASU stands.
Arizona men closing out Pac-12 play
After dropping to ASU in a stunning fashion on Saturday, the Wildcats dropped one spot in the rankings and now are the eighth best in the nation.
The Wildcats will close out the regular season with a trip to Los Angeles starting Thursday at USC at 9 p.m. Arizona will play UCLA at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Both will be on ESPN.
GCU men to finish on road
Following last weekend’s 65-54 loss to Seattle U, GCU will hope to close out the regular season on a high note. The Lopes (8-7) currently sit at sixth place in the conference, two games behind Seattle U.
GCU will close the regular season starting on Wednesday at Southern Utah at 7 p.m. The Lopes will play on Friday at Utah Tech at 7 p.m.