On Saturday at 12:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Cardinal Sports Network radio, Stanford men’s basketball will play their final regular season game at Arizona State. Stanford comes in at 15-14 overall and 8-11 in the Pac-12 while Arizona State comes in at 13-16 overall and 9-10 in the Pac-12. Stanford won the first meeting 79-76.
Last time out: Stanford fell to #2 Arizona 81-69 in Tucson. Stanford battled hard, but wasn’t quite able to pull off the upset.
RECAP: Stanford MBB battles tough in loss at #2 Arizona
On Arizona State: The Sun Devils have won six of their last seven games and three games in a row. In their most recent win, they utterly humiliated Cal 71-44, making them look like a junior college team. The Sun Devils are looking to get a win on Senior Day and enter the Pac-12 tournament with even more momentum.
The Sun Devils continue to be a very balanced team as DJ Horne (12.3 points), Jay Heath (10.7 points), Kimani Lawrence (10.4 points), and Marreon Jackson (10.0 points) are all scoring in double figures. The Sun Devils are playing great team basketball and seem to have figured things out from earlier in the season in which they looked borderline dysfunctional and out-of-sync.
As a team, the Sun Devils average 65.2 points per game on 41.1% shooting from the field, 30.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 66.2% shooting from the foul line. They average 35.9 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 6.7 steals, 4.2 blocks, and 12.0 turnovers per game. They also averaged a -3.9 rebound margin and a +1.4 turnover margin per game. Their opponents average 67.5 points per game on 39.9% shooting from the field, 30.9% shooting from 3-point range, and 72.3% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is not get rattled by the road environment. After getting rattled by Cal’s large crowd in Berkeley, Stanford came out a lot more poised and focused against Arizona on Thursday, looking like they learned a lesson. If Stanford doesn’t allow the Sun Devils’ crowd to bother them, they got a shot to win this game. If it rattles them, they’re not going to win.
Secondly, Stanford needs to pummel the Sun Devils inside. Arizona State’s biggest weakness is rebounding while the opposite is true for Stanford. Stanford loves to rebound and win that battle every night. If Stanford controls the glass, they’ll put themselves in a position to win.
Finally, Stanford needs to get threes to fall. When Stanford is making threes, that really opens things up for them. When they’re not making threes, they become a lot easier to beat. A big reason why they stayed in the game against Arizona was their perimeter shooting. The same needs to be true for Saturday in Tempe.
Prediction: ASU is at home and they’re playing better basketball. Plus, it’s their Senior Day and they’re not going to want to lose this one. That combination has me predicting Arizona State to win. 77-67 is how I see this playing out.
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