On Wednesday at 12:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks, Stanford men’s basketball will take on Arizona State in the 8-9 matchup in the Pac-12 tournament. Arizona State being the 8 seed with a 10-10 Pac-12 record, Stanford being the 9 seed with an 8-12 Pac-12 record.
Last time out: On Saturday, Stanford fell to Arizona State on the road by a final score of 65-56. Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel each had 14 points for Stanford. Marreon Jackson (18 points, 6 rebounds, & 6 assists) and Jalen Graham (16 points) led the way for Arizona State.
RECAP: Stanford MBB loses steam at Arizona State
Keys to the game: I’m going to skip the “On Arizona State” section since Stanford just played them on Saturday. If you want a refresher on what the Sun Devils are all about, read the preview that I did for Saturday’s game here. You can also read my breakdown of Pac-12 tournament odds as well if you want more insight into them. What I’m going to do is list three things Stanford can learn from Saturday that they can hopefully apply to Wednesday’s game.
The first thing Stanford needs to do is get Harrison Ingram going. The one constant in this five game losing streak is Harrison Ingram has failed to score in double figures in each of those games. If he fails to score in double figures again, they’re likely going to lose. It’s that simple. He needs to ball out in this game.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is win the free throw battle. Arizona State shot 13-18 (72.2%) from the foul line on Saturday while Stanford shot 8-15 (53.3%). Stanford cannot expect to win this game if they lose the free throw battle once again.
Finally, Stanford needs to take care of the ball. Stanford turned the ball over 21 times on Saturday while Arizona State turned the ball over 14 times. If that trend continues for Stanford, they’re not going to get revenge on the Sun Devils. Ball security has to be priority number one.
Prediction: Arizona State has won four games in a row. Stanford has lost five. That alone makes it pretty easy to pick Arizona State to win. However, I think it’ll be close and if Stanford comes out with the same fire they did on Saturday, maybe they’ll pick up a long awaited win. Arizona State 66 Stanford 63 is how I see this one playing out.
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