Tag: Arizona State Sun Devils Basketball

Arizona State-Santa Clara part of UCLA doubleheader in Las Vegas

A solid November doubleheader in Las Vegas.

The UCLA Bruins face off against New Mexico in Las Vegas in November in a big non-conference showdown. The Bruins will have an early test against a team coming off an NCAA Tournament trip, so it will be interesting to see how Mick Cronin’s group stands up against the Lobos.

As part of a doubleheader on that same day in Las Vegas, Arizona State and Santa Clara will face each other, per Jon Rothstein.

Arizona State will play Santa Clara on Nov. 8th in Las Vegas, multiple sources told College Hoops Today on Wednesday…The game will be part of a doubleheader with UCLA/New Mexico, which College Hoops Today previously reported.

Arizona State is making the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 as UCLA goes from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, and Santa Clara is another tough West Coast Conference team that could give the Sun Devils some problems.

Pac-12 bubble watch: Oregon hurts Arizona State’s NCAA tourney hopes

Oregon beating ASU means the Sun Devils are several spots outside the NCAA Tournament. UO and ASU are both in trouble.

The Pac-12 Conference might get only three teams in the NCAA tournament once again. A few weeks ago, it looked like four or maybe even five teams were going to get in.

One possibility was Arizona State, which started the season strong before plummeting quickly. The Sun Devils are now 16-8 overall but just 7-6 in the Pac-12, including losses to Washington and Washington State.

The Sun Devils’ latest loss, a 75-70 defeat to Oregon in Tempe on Saturday, is a significant blow to their NCAA at-large hopes.

If anything, this is a boost to Oregon’s resume, and it could put the Ducks as an at-large team instead of Arizona State (h/t Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire).

“After a tough loss to the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night, the Ducks were able to pull out a scrappy, ugly, and hard-fought 75-70 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils,” Neel wrote. “It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough to keep Oregon’s hopes of getting an at-large bid in the NCAA March Madness Tournament alive and well.”

Dana Altman’s team has been up and down all season, but the Ducks have wins over Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, all of which help their case when fighting for a spot in the Big Dance.

The Sun Devils have now dropped five of their last six games, and they will likely need at least one win against Arizona or UCLA in the final stretch of the regular season to boost their resume.

Arizona State faces Stanford, Cal, and Colorado over the next couple of weeks, and a loss to one of those lower-tier Pac-12 teams might be the final nail in the coffin for Arizona State this season, especially if it can’t beat UCLA or Arizona.

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Mapping out USC’s path to the NCAA Tournament: must-win games, overall targets, and more