Arizona State making an attempt to get on NCAA bubble with Kansas State set for go to – The Arizona Republic

The Arizona State males’s basketball staff cannot afford any extra shut however no-cigar losses.
The Sun Devils are 3-7 midway via Huge 12 play, which places them close to the underside of the 16-team convention. They enter Tuesday’s 8 p.m. recreation towards Kansas State (10-11, 4-6) at Desert Monetary Enviornment with no margin for error.
The Solar Devils, 12-9 general, are coming off an 81-72 loss to rival Arizona. It was one of many many latest video games wherein the Solar Devils faltered down the stretch. The variety of video games which have fallen into that class is the distinction between being within the NCAA postseason image and never.
Two of the three Huge 12 wins have come towards last-place Colorado, whereas the opposite was a high quality win at No. 23 West Virginia. The schedule has been powerful with ASU already enjoying a lot of the convention heavyweights. Tuesday’s recreation is considered one of a handful ASU has arising towards groups near it in convention standings. Oklahoma State, TCU and Utah are the others.
Profitable video games that may assist ASU’s postseason resume corresponding to Texas Tech (twice), Houston, and the rematch towards Arizona, might be tough.
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Let’s have a look at the place ASU faltered down the stretch:
Jan. 11 — Baylor (house), misplaced 72-66 in extra time: ASU rallied after being down a lot of the sport. The Solar Devils trailed by 9 with 4:43 to play however tied the sport on a driving layup by Adam Miller with three seconds left that pressured extra time. ASU missed its first six photographs in extra time and was down 69-61 earlier than it made one.
Jan. 14 — Central Florida (house), misplaced 95-89: The Solar Devils trailed 87-86 with 2:29 to play however went 1-for-5 from the sector with a turnover the remainder of the way in which.
Jan. 18 — at Cincinnati, misplaced 67-60: The Solar Devils have been down 52-48 with 6:47 left however went 4-for-10 from the sector with 5 turnovers after that.
Jan. 25 — No. 3 Iowa State (house), misplaced 76-61: ASU was down by only one at 58-57 with 5:38 left. It went 1-for-6 from the sector and had 4 turnovers afterward. The Solar Devils dedicated 4 fouls and the Cyclones went 7-for-8 from the road.
Jan. 28 — At Colorado, received 80-78: That is one the Solar Devils really received however got here near giving it away down the stretch. ASU had a 64-61 lead with 2:38 to play. Within the final 1:09, ASU had two turnovers and it missed three of 4 free throw tries within the final 22 seconds. A blocked shot by Shawn Phillips saved the day.
Feb 1 — Arizona (house), misplaced 81-72: Sure, this one stings extra as a result of it’s the rival popping out on prime. The Solar Devils solely trailed the Wildcats by three at 70-67 with 3:50 to play. ASU was 2-for-5 from the sector after that. The most important issue was Arizona saved making free throws, sinking 21-of-22 for the sport. It additionally had 5 offensive rebounds within the final 2:40.
ASU is simply 5-4 at house. It received all 4 of its nonconference video games in its venue however has dropped its final 4 house video games, marking the primary time in Hurley’s decade-long tenure that has occurred.
“When guys get damage you gotta overcome it and also you gotta determine a method, we simply have not,” coach Bobby Hurley mentioned. “We have figured some issues out on the highway however we simply cannot lose 4 convention video games at this level within the season within the Huge 12 race and anticipate to be within the image. We simply have not finished job, quite a lot of these video games have been shut however ethical victories, who cares?”
Accidents have damage, particularly since ASU has no depth. The Solar Devils have performed six of 10 convention video games with out their full allotment of gamers. Joson Sanon has missed 5 video games, Jayden Quaintance missed one and B.J. Freeman enjoying solely 4 minutes in the identical recreation Quaintance was out.
In comes Kansas State, which appeared to be one of many extra winnable video games on the schedule, with these Wildcats coming in underneath .500 however Kansas State throttled the identical Iowa State to whom ASU misplaced. Okay-State has received three straight video games with the opposite victories coming at house towards West Virginia and Oklahoma State.
Kansas State, coached by Jerome Tang, is far the identical as ASU in the case of spreading the workload round. It has 4 gamers averaging double figures with one other only a tick under however the main scorer is 6-foot-9 senior wing David N’Guessan (12.2 ppg).
ASU has six gamers averaging double figures, led by B.J. Freeman (12.8 ppg). Quaintance (10.1 ppg, 8.5 rpg) boasts six double-doubles. He leads the convention in blocked photographs and is third in rebounding.
“Good groups discover a strategy to win and dangerous groups discover a strategy to lose,” Miller mentioned. “Profitable solves all the things.”

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