Arizona State basketball – Page 2

Devil Heaven: Arizona State escapes bubble hell with 55-foot buzzer-beater

Arizona State was about to absorb a crushing loss and slide to the NIT. Then it made a 55-foot heave to stun Arizona.

The Arizona State Sun Devils were just about done … but “just about” is not the same as “fully and completely.”

Such is the timeless lesson of March … or in this case, late February.

When the intense push for the final few spots in the NCAA Tournament reaches a fever pitch, crazy things happen. That’s why they call it “March Madness.” This is February 25, but it sure felt like March in the college basketball world on Saturday. Some absolutely insane finishes reminded us why March is one of the most fun and special months of the year.

It wasn’t fun for USC or for the Arizona Wildcats, though.

Arizona led Arizona State by one point with 2.9 seconds left in Tucson. Arizona’s Oumar Ballo had two free throws. If he made both, ASU could not have won in regulation. When Ballo missed the first free throw — and ASU having no timeouts — it was an obvious move for Ballo and Arizona to miss the second free throw. ASU would not be able to inbound the ball down the court. It would have to grab a loose ball and then heave it 75 or 80 feet.

Sure, no one thinks that a 55-foot shot will go through the basket, but the odds of that are better than an 80-footer in a loose-ball battle.

Ballo made the second free throw. ASU was able to inbound the ball and give the shooter a running start toward the basket. Desmond Cambridge had a clear look at the basket, moving forward in a way he never would have been able to had Arizona missed the second free throw.

Splash.

ASU 89, Arizona 88.

The Devils needed a prayer. It was answered.

The Devils sent a shot to the heavens, and an angel guided it through the hoop.

Suddenly, the Sun Devils went from bubble misery — having a very minimal chance of making the NCAA Tournament — to being even with USC on the bubble, probably one of the last four teams in the field.

USC meets Arizona State next week. That could be a classic “winner is in, loser is out” bubble game, but we obviously need to see what happens with USC’s game at Utah, which — at the time of publication — hasn’t started yet. It obviously raises the stakes for the Trojans, whose margin for error just shrank.

DESMOND CAMBRIDGE JR. FROM HALF COURT FTW 🤯😱#Pac12MBB | @SunDevilHoops pic.twitter.com/R8V02ImFQA

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) February 25, 2023

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Arizona State stunned Arizona thanks to Desmond Cambridge Jr.’s spectacular buzzer-beater

WHAT A BUZZER-BEATER!!!

Arizona State won on one of the wildest buzzer-beaters you’re likely to see this college basketball season.

While facing rival Arizona on the road Saturday, the Sun Devils and Wildcats went down to the wire as the game’s final seconds ticked down.

With a one-point lead in the game’s final minute, Arizona State attempted a tough three that clanged off the rim as they tried to go 2-for-1. On the other end, the Wildcats connected for a bucket with about 29 seconds to go to get the lead back by a point.

The Sun Devils couldn’t get anything going against Arizona’s stingy defense on what seemed to be the final possession as Oumar Ballo reigned in the rebound for the Wildcats with 2.9 ticks left on the game clock. Ballo missed the first free throw and made the second, giving ASU one final look at the basket.

But Arizona State senior guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. certainly wasn’t about to go down without a fight. He got the ball on the inbounds pass and heaved a shot from the far side of the mid-court line that swished for the win.

DOWN GOES NO. 7 ARIZONA‼️@SunDevilHoops WINS IT AT THE BUZZER 😱😱 pic.twitter.com/qJus7icYDO

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 25, 2023

The major bucket gave Arizona State the victory and sent No. 7 Arizona back to the locker room with a loss. It also kept the tenuous hopes of an at-large bid alive for the Sun Devils.

As far as buzzer-beaters go, we doubt you’ll see one this weekend as exciting as this one. Hats off to Cambridge for the astounding basket.

Utah and Arizona State, battling USC on the bubble, meet on Saturday

The winner won’t gain a lot of ground, but it would stay afloat. The loser will fall even lower on the bubble. Let’s discuss.

The chatter surrounding Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley is only going to grow louder and more distracting in the coming weeks. ASU is currently unlikely to make the 2023 NCAA Tournament, in which case Hurley might look elsewhere for a reset in his coaching career.

However, speculation can wait a little bit. Hurley is still coaching Arizona State, and if he wants to have any chance of making a late run to the tournament, he and his Sun Devils need to beat Utah this coming Saturday in Tempe.

Arizona State endured an atrocious loss to Colorado on Thursday. The opponent was mediocre. Losing to Colorado will drag down ASU’s already-average resume even more. The way in which ASU lost was also brutal. The Devils were up six with just under six minutes left. They allowed a 17-3 run to CU down the stretch.

What is bad news for ASU is great news for USC, which knows that either the Sun Devils or Utah will lose another game on Saturday.

The Trojans are watching each of their Pac-12 bubble competitors fade away. With ASU and Utah both losing on Thursday, the importance of this Saturday meeting becomes that much greater … and not in terms of lifting the winner into the NCAA Tournament.

Because of ASU’s and Utah’s recent losses, this game is more of a “loser out” game than a “winner in” game. The winner merely stays afloat in the bubble picture. The loser falls even lower on the bubble.

If ASU loses here against Utah, the Sun Devils probably won’t be able to get into the NCAA Tournament if they split a pair of upcoming games against Arizona and UCLA, both on the road. They would probably need to win both. Winning one would be an absolute necessity, of course. ASU would need to win at least three games, probably four.

If ASU beats Utah, it can probably still split the Arizona-UCLA pair and get in with a win over USC in early March plus one win at the Pac-12 Tournament.

As for Utah, a loss to ASU would mean the Utes would have to sweep UCLA and USC next week to have a realistic chance of making the NCAA Tournament. Losing at home to Stanford a few weeks ago severely limited this team’s margin for error.

If Utah beats Arizona State, the Utes would still need to beat UCLA, but they might be able to lose to USC and not suffer severe consequences. They would have to collect a few more wins before Selection Sunday.

As for USC, the task is simple: Beat Stanford on Saturday. If the Trojans do that, they know they are guaranteed to gain more ground on the Utah-Arizona State loser. They won’t lose ground on the Utah-ASU winner.

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USC was the only Pac-12 bubble team to win over the past 48 hours

Oregon lost on Wednesday. Utah and Arizona State lost on Thursday. #USC is clearly ahead of those three bubble teams.

If you were to ask Pac-12 basketball experts right now about the conference’s NCAA Tournament contingent, you would not get a sunny outlook. To be brutally honest, the conference’s ceiling for NCAA Tournament bids is getting lower and lower. Three bids looks like the maximum haul for the conference, a bitterly disappointing prospect heading into the final week of February.

Two bids is a very realistic possibility, a nightmare for a conference which desperately needs infusions of revenue.

The needle certainly moved in the direction of a two-bid Pac-12 over the past two nights. On Wednesday, Oregon lost to Washington, which reduced the Ducks’ already-slim margin for error.

On Thursday, Arizona State suffered a damaging loss at home to Colorado, grabbing a six-point lead with just under six minutes left and then allowing a 17-3 run to the Buffaloes.

Utah, without Gabe Madsen, got hammered by Arizona on Thursday.

The only Pac-12 bubble team which won was USC, but before we throw a parade for the Trojans, let’s be real: They merely beat Cal, one of the worst college basketball teams in the country.

Nevertheless, USC’s bubble position has clearly improved over the week. USC’s three Pac-12 bubble competitors all lost. Oregon’s and ASU’s losses were legitimately bad. Utah missed a chance for a quality win and will now have to beat UCLA next week to have a realistic shot at an at-large bid. Beating Arizona State and USC won’t be enough if the Utes fail to beat the Bruins.

In non-Pac-12 action, USC received good bubble news.

Tennessee, a USC opponent this season, beat No. 1 Alabama. That will improve the Trojans’ metrics.

New Mexico lost. Virginia Tech lost. USC isn’t rising on the bubble, but other teams are falling. If the Trojans can beat Stanford and Colorado in their next two games, they might create some margin for error.

Now they simply have to take advantage of the opportunity other bubble teams are giving them.

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Bobby Hurley era at Arizona State could end after brutal loss to Colorado

It’s more likely that Hurley will seek an open job instead of being fired, but just the same, it’s harder to see him at ASU in 2024.

A month ago, it seemed likely that Arizona State would be in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, which would have given Bobby Hurley every reason in the world to stay in Tempe and build a Sweet 16-level program. Hurley had been doing good work in December and January, getting a less-than-fully-talented team to buy in at the defensive end of the floor and grind out stops in the final minutes of games. ASU has made lots of comebacks this season — at Oregon State, at Colorado, at Stanford, versus Creighton in Las Vegas, and on other occasions. ASU had shown more toughness than in previous seasons. Maybe this was the positive turning point in Hurley’s tenure in Tempe.

Nope.

ASU barely beat Cal this past Saturday after losing at home to Oregon a week earlier. Was that a blip on the radar screen, or an indication the Sun Devils are losing steam?

We got our answer on Thursday against Colorado. ASU ran out of gas in a brutal bubble-harming loss, as Buffaloes Wire noted:

“Colorado ended the game on a 17-3 run aided by a pair of Javon Ruffin 3s and 11 of Tristan da Silva’s game-high 23 points. KJ Simpson also chipped in 12 on the night and fellow starter Luke O’Brien nearly had a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds,” wrote Buffs Wire’s Jack Carlough.

We noted earlier in February that college basketball insiders are speculating about Hurley’s future. The St. John’s and Georgetown jobs are likely to come open soon. Hurley could seek one of those jobs or another opening in the East. ASU probably won’t fire him — Hurley has made a few NCAA Tournaments at the school, and that will probably still buy him another year if he wants to stay.

However, why would he want to stay if there are other, better options? Does Hurley really want to stick it out in Tempe? It certainly can’t be fun to relive the same patterns over and over again, with Hurley’s Sun Devil offense bogging down late in games and late in seasons.

Hopping to a new job would give both Hurley and ASU a fresh start.

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Speculation swirls around Bobby Hurley as Arizona State fades away in 2023

Coaching carousel speculation is already in high gear. Bobby Hurley might want the St. John’s or Georgetown jobs.

Arizona State is an NIT team right now, and the Sun Devils’ path to the NCAA Tournament is narrowing. The Sun Devils will definitely need to beat either UCLA or Arizona in the coming weeks, and they will probably need to grab at least one other high-value win while avoiding bad losses. ASU doesn’t have much breathing room in the pursuit of an NCAA bid. If the Sun Devils miss out, coach Bobby Hurley might think about a change of scenery.

(h/t Kevin Sweeney of Sports Illustrated)

“Hurley is in a unique spot,” Sweeney wrote. “He could realistically be fired or extended, or leave for another job this coming offseason. Conventional wisdom was that Hurley cooled his seat with a 6–1 start in Pac-12 play, but since then Arizona State has lost five of six to fall to the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble. It’s an all-too-familiar script for the Sun Devils under Hurley, who’ve often gotten out to hot starts before fading late.

“ASU’s résumé is still in decent shape, so sneaking into the Big Dance is well within the realm of possibility. But should he fall short, it’d be hard to justify an extension with his contract set to expire in 2024. And regardless of whether he saves his job in Tempe this spring, don’t be surprised if Hurley tries to get involved with jobs back East.”

Those jobs: St. John’s and Georgetown. St. John’s could fire coach Mike Anderson. Georgetown and Patrick Ewing are almost certain to get a divorce at the end of the season. This will be a fascinating set of plot points to monitor.

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Pac-12 bubble watch: Utah, Arizona State, Oregon embark on season-defining stretch

We’re going to know a lot more in the next few weeks about the bubble picture for the teams USC is battling in the Pac-12. Here’s our latest Bubble Watch update.

The next Pac-12 Conference basketball games will be played within the month of February. March is not that far away. Selection Sunday — March 12 — is coming into view. Bracketology and bubble evaluations are now a regular part of daily sports discussion, especially with the NFL being down to just one game and 30 of 32 teams having ended their seasons.

Here’s the latest on the Pac-12 bubble. You know that USC leads Utah and Arizona State in the race for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. The Trojans are first in line, the Utes and Sun Devils behind them. Oregon is next after that, and that’s where we start with this edition of Bubble Watch.

Oregon is sixth in the Pac-12 pecking order, but not 100-percent eliminated. However, the Ducks have very little margin for error, and the next two weeks will likely tell us if Dana Altman’s team will be in the hunt for an at-large berth when we arrive at March and the Pac-12 Tournament.

Oregon visits the Arizona schools this week and then hosts the Los Angeles schools next week. That’s right: Oregon plays Arizona, Arizona State, USC, and UCLA in the next two weeks. That’s four chances for valuable bubble wins.

Hypothetically, if Oregon does win all four of those games, it would likely make the NCAA Tournament.

Obviously, the chances of winning all four are quite remote. The obvious question: Just how many games does Oregon have to win to get back into the bubble discussion?

Realistically: three.

Oregon needs to go 3-1 in these next four games to offset all the horrible (and numerous) losses the Ducks have collected. If Oregon goes 2-2 instead of 3-1, the only scenario which would help the Ducks is a pair of wins over the heavyweights in the Pac-12, Arizona and UCLA. If Oregon doesn’t beat both Arizona and UCLA, it will need 3-1 in these coming four games to have a decent chance of making the field of 68.

A 2-2 split with only one win over the Arizona-UCLA pair won’t do it. Oregon has lost too much ground. Splitting games without stacking multiple high-end wins won’t make the cut. This is Oregon’s last stand.

Let’s talk about Arizona State. The Sun Devils host Oregon this week. That game is obviously valuable, but right now, it seems like more of a “loser hurts itself” game than a “winner moves into the field” game. The loser takes on more water and reduces its already-small margin for error.

In two and a half weeks (February 16 and 18), Arizona State will host the Mountain schools. That includes a game against Utah.

What happens in the next week and a half will determine the stakes for that ASU-Utah bubble game in Tempe. If Arizona State loses to Oregon this week, the Sun Devils’ game against Utah would likely be more of a play-out bubble game (loser is excluded from the field of 68) than a play-in bubble game.

A final word about Utah: The Utes host Stanford, Cal, and Colorado in the next week and a half. The Utes absolutely must win all three games. A loss to any of those teams would be a big dent in the team’s profile. Then Utah goes to the Arizona schools. It would need to win at least one of the two games in Tempe and Tucson.

Here’s a simple rooting guide for USC fans: Have Arizona beat these other Pac-12 bubble teams, and have Arizona State lose to them. That combination of bubble results would be favorable to the Trojans.

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Pac-12 bubble watch: Arizona State loses at Washington, falls behind USC for NCAA Tournament bid

In the 3-team Pac-12 chase for NCAA Tournament at-large bids, USC clearly leads both Arizona State and Utah. ASU lost to Washington while USC beat UCLA.

What a difference a week makes. Last week, on Thursday afternoon, Pac-12 basketball teams were preparing for Thursday night games. USC was likely an NIT team. Arizona State was clearly in the NCAA Tournament field for the time being. Utah had a lot of work to do.

Utah’s situation hasn’t really changed much. USC and Arizona State, on the other hand, have switched positions.

USC beat Arizona State in Tempe on Saturday to begin to change the bubble conversation in the Pac-12, but the Trojans needed a high-end win to truly shift the state of play in the conference’s bubble picture.

They got that big win on Thursday against UCLA.

Meanwhile, Arizona State lost 69-66 in overtime to Washington on Thursday night in Seattle. This loss follows previous losses at home to UCLA and USC. The Sun Devils are throwing away the amount of leverage they previously had. USC has surpassed them without question or debate.

Utah won at Oregon State on Thursday. The Utes face a very important game at Oregon on the weekend.

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USC hammers Arizona State, makes gains in NCAA Tournament bubble chase and Pac-12 standings

USC badly needed at least a split on its Arizona road trip. It got it, and it did so in surprisingly easy fashion in Tempe. This is a big step forward for the Trojans.

There’s a lot to unpack about USC’s 77-69 win over Arizona State on Saturday night. Almost all of it is good. We’re definitely going to focus on Vince Iwuchukwu’s dynamic night and how much that could change this team’s outlook for the rest of the season. We’re going to look at the balanced contributions from several players on the roster. We’re going to deal with the last four and a half minutes of the game, in which USC completely dozed off and gave Andy Enfield a talking point for the coming week of practice.

For now, though — in this piece — we’re going to look at the most important story: USC’s improved position in the race for an NCAA Tournament berth. The Trojans helped themselves a lot with this win.

The Trojans still aren’t a central factor in the Pac-12 race, but with this victory — combined with UCLA’s loss to Arizona — the Trojans are in a position to move one game behind the Bruins if they can beat them next Thursday in a season-shaping game in the Galen Center. Utah is currently in second place in the Pac-12, but the Utes still have to make the Arizona road trip USC just completed. USC improved its chances of getting a first-round bye at the Pac-12 Tournament (which goes to the top four teams in the conference), which means it will have to win only three games to win an automatic bid instead of four, should it come to that.

If the Trojans are in the hunt for an at-large bid, getting a first-round bye means they would not have to play a bottom-tier team (a No. 12 or 11 seed) in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, which both hurts the resume and puts USC at risk of a profile-killing loss. The win over Arizona State gave USC a lot of leverage in the Pac-12.

Most of all, though, this win gives USC a quality road win on the resume, in addition to the home-court win over Auburn. Utah and Arizona State are the other bubble teams USC is fighting for position. Neither the Utes nor the Sun Devils have a Pac-12 road win as good as this one for the Trojans. Utah lost at UCLA. Arizona State has lost to UCLA and Arizona at home. ASU and Utah haven’t played each other; they eventually will in Tempe later this season.

USC isn’t ahead of Arizona State, but the Trojans are now much closer to the Sun Devils than they were before. USC probably still needs to beat either UCLA or Arizona to feel good about its NCAA Tournament chances, but this win over ASU means that if USC can really clean up against all non-UCLA, non-Arizona teams in the Pac-12, it could potentially have an alternate path to the NCAAs. A win over UCLA or Arizona now feels like a “this will definitely get UCLA into the tournament” win, as opposed to a “USC absolutely must win to have any chance” situation.

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USC’s attention turns to Arizona State in crucial bubble game for Trojans

USC didn’t measure up against Arizona. Now the Trojans have to quickly reset, turn the page, and prepare for Arizona State’s tenacious defense in a critical game.

The USC Trojans were hammered by Arizona on Thursday in Tucson. To be honest, when Arizona got pounded by Oregon last Saturday, the Trojans’ chances of winning in the Old Pueblo went way down. It was highly unlikely Arizona would play terribly two straight games. It was also very unlikely Arizona would play poorly at home after a recent slump in which it lost to Washington State by 13 in the McKale Center. Arizona was bound to play better. It did. USC had no shot.

The game the Trojans realistically can win in the state of Arizona this week is the game which is next for them on Saturday evening in Tempe.

Arizona State is a good team. It has lost only four times this season. Coach Bobby Hurley has gotten his Sun Devils to play strong, consistent defense. Arizona State has been a comeback artist, erasing a 15-point deficit to win on the road at Colorado and coming from 16 points down to win at Oregon State one week ago.

However, ASU ran into the ultimate comeback king in the Pac-12, the UCLA Bruins, on Thursday. UCLA trailed late in the second half against Washington State on December 30 and won. It trailed late against USC and won. It trailed by nine points midway through the second half last Saturday against Colorado and won. UCLA and ASU were both very good at making comebacks in the first half of January.

Thursday night, the Bruins had the answers down the stretch. They trailed 55-50 with 9:20 left and then allowed just seven points the rest of the way, en route to a 74-62 win over the Sun Devils.

USC fans don’t enjoy seeing UCLA succeed, but in truth, the outcome isn’t a bad one for the Trojans. They would like to be the non-Arizona Pac-12 team which beats UCLA first. ASU is now 0-2 against Arizona and UCLA. If the Trojans can beat Arizona State on Saturday, they would make up some (not all) ground on the Sun Devils in the attempt to become the third NCAA Tournament team from the Pac-12, with UCLA and Arizona being the two obvious locks from the conference. If the Trojans finish with a better resume than Arizona State, their odds of making the NCAA Tournament would go way up.

It’s time for the Trojans to make a statement. We’ll see if they can speak forcefully against Bobby Hurley on Saturday in Tempe.

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