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👋 GOOD MORNING
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 — Happy Thursday! I’ll get to the Sun Devils’ road to March below, but first, the Suns dropped the final game of their home stand last night, rallying late but coming up just short of their fourth straight win. The result was disappointing against the 26-21 Timberwolves, but even so, Phoenix has won five of its last seven games as it hits the road for four straight.
Newcomer Nick Richards had an underwhelming stat line — he corralled five rebounds while chipping in seven points — while Kevin Durant and Devin Booker combined for 61 points. Bradley Beal had another strong showing off the bench, notching 17 points and six assists.
Minnesota shot 56 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from beyond the arc, proving to be too much for the Suns to overcome in the final game of their three-game home stand. They return to Footprint Center against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 7.
On to the show!
Sun Devils Look to Recover as Big 12 Schedule Dwindles
The Big 12 basketball schedule is nearly halfway over.
That was fast.
The ASU men’s basketball team got off to a rocky start during its inaugural trek through the powerhouse conference, dropping five of its first six games, but has since stabilized while winning two of its last three. That stretch included an impressive victory in Morgantown over the then-No. 23 Mountaineers, a signature season win after the Sun Devils lost their first three games against ranked opponents this season.
There’s still plenty of hope to go dancing in March if ASU can win at least eight of its last 11 games of the regular season, which would hit the coveted 20-win mark, and a few more in the Big 12 Tournament would go a long way.
“Where we are in the standings, we want to try and climb ourselves out of the hole we’ve dug for ourselves,” coach Bobby Hurley said after the team’s win in Boulder on Tuesday. “We’ve dealt with a lot of stuff, and injuries, and we’re still dealing with it.”
Games That Are Anything But a Gimme
Playing in the Big 12 is a blessing and a curse: There are plenty of opportunities to earn quality wins that boost a bubble team’s resume, but those same games can also burst that very bubble. Four of the Sun Devils’ remaining eight opponents have a conference record above .500, and two of them are currently ranked.
- Arizona (Feb. 1 in Tempe, March 4 in Tucson): The Wildcats are riding high following a dramatic victory at home against No. 3 Iowa State, and the in-state rivalry adds even more flavor to and already-critical matchup for both teams. Arizona is challenging Houston at the top of the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 conference record, while the Sun Devils need every win possible at this point to go dancing in March.
- No. 22 Texas Tech (Feb. 12 in Lubbock, March 8 in Tempe): The Red Raiders always seem to bring it in conference play, and they remain near the top of the standings with a 6-2 Big 12 record. They’re a tough out, as Tech handed Arizona its only conference loss earlier this season, and two of their four season losses have come against ranked teams.
- No. 6 Houston (Feb. 18 in Tempe): Thank goodness the Sun Devils have this one at Desert Financial Arena, because the Cougars sure look like the team to beat in the conference. Houston is unbeaten in the Big 12, 16-3 overall, and is coming off a double overtime win over the No. 12 Jayhawks in Kansas.
- BYU (Feb. 26 in Tempe): Don’t sleep on the other Cougars in the conference, especially considering they won the first matchup between these two schools back on New Year’s Eve. BYU is 5-4 in the Big 12 and 14-6 overall, and has won three straight games.
This top tier of competition will be a true test, but ASU is fortunate to host four of those games. If Arizona State can take care of business at home, grander dreams could become a reality.
Challenging-Yet-Winnable Games Remain
Then there’s the second tier of competition — games against teams that are having much similar seasons as the Sun Devils.
- Utah (March 1 in Salt Lake City): The Utes sit slightly higher than ASU in the Big 12 standings, 4-5 in the conference and 12-8 overall. Utah has been a streaky team all season, and is just 4-6 since starting the season 8-2.
- TCU (Feb. 15 in Tempe): The Horned Frogs are just a half game ahead of the Sun Devils in the conference standings, and that the game is at DFA gives ASU a leg up in this one. TCU has been wildly inconsistent this year with losses to Alcorn State and Santa Clara, but also defeated then-No. 25 Baylor just a few weeks ago.
Neither of these are gimmes, but if ASU can come away with just one win out of these two matchups — a pretty reasonable ask — it will almost assuredly help catch the attention of the selection committee.
Gotta Have ‘Em: Games Against This Year’s Bottom Feeders
There’s no room for error here — in order for the Sun Devils to build a resume worthy of the NCAA Tournament, they have got to win these ones. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be a W.
- Kansas State (Feb. 4 in Tempe, Feb. 23 in Manhattan, Kan.): The Wildcats (no, not those Wildcats) have had a rough go of it this season, and ASU needs to exploit that. As of the time of this writing, KSU has lost six of its last seven games, though it did recently topple No. 23 West Virginia this past Saturday. (Starting to think maybe, just maybe, WVU was overrated?)
- Oklahoma State (Feb. 9 in Stillwater): The Cowboys have the same 2-6 Big 12 record as Kansas State does, losing by double digits to Houston, West Virginia, Utah, BYU, Arizona and Texas Tech. Their only two victories this season have come against the Wildcats, as well as the winless Colorado Buffaloes.
Simply put, Bobby Hurley’s team needs to come away with wins in all three of these matchups, not just to inch closer to the 20-win mark, but also because a loss to any of these teams would not be looked upon favorably by the selection committee.
Buckling Down for the Second Half
There is little question the Sun Devils have the talent to make a run. 17-year-old sensation Jayden Quaintance, freshman phenom Joson Sanon, and upperclassmen B.J. Freeman and Basheer Jihad have been solid for Arizona State, and the team has battled through injuries to much of its lineup throughout the season.
The inability to close out games has proven costly (see: Iowa State), but Hurley and his team have already acknowledged the task at hand, and realistically, they still have an opportunity to make it happen.
“We’ve been in a lot of tough places, we’ve played a lot of hard games on the road already in the Big 12, and non-conference, and neutral sites,” Hurley said. “These guys are learning to fight together.”
🧢 TIP OF THE HAT BY BRANDED BILLS
The end result was not great, but what a wild play here from Book.
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