Arizona State Basketball has one more chance at a signature non-conference win when they host No. 1 Kansas on Saturday. Here are three things the Sun Devils need to do to win.
On Saturday, the current top team in a completely muddled Pac-12, the Arizona State Sun Devils play host to the No. 1 team in the country, the Kansas Jayhawks.
The 8-2 Sun Devils and have a nice win over Mississippi State but have struggled a bit since the beginning of December. Bobby Hurley’s squad was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten by No. 6 Nevada at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and then despite splitting a two-game road trip through SEC country with visits to Georgia, where they won and Vanderbilt, where they suffered a 16-point loss, continuing a stretch of inconsistent play.
The No. 1 Jayhawks are 10-0 and have played a tough schedule so far and Bill Self’s relatively inexperienced team, with only one senior, Lagerald Vick on the roster has had its share of close calls. After a five-point win over Michigan State at the Champions Classic to begin the year, the Jayhawks also have had back-to-back overtime wins over Tennessee and Stanford as well as three-point victories over New Mexico State and Villanova at home.
For Arizona State, this is their last big test before the start of conference play, and for a conference as wide open as the Pac-12, the team carrying the most confidence into conference play could ride that momentum for a while. What could give a team more confidence than knocking off the undefeated No. 1 team in the country on your home floor just before Christmas? Here are three keys to Arizona State pulling off their own holiday miracle.