Arizona State Basketball: Keys for must-win Pac-12 game over Oregon

Arizona State Basketball needs to end the season strong if they want to make the Big Dance, earning a win at Oregon is a good start. Here are the keys to a Sun Devil win.

With the season quickly coming to a close, the Arizona State Sun Devils (19-8, 10-5) are the only team in the Pac-12 with a shot at an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament if conference leader Washington wins the league’s auto bid. Even so, Bobby Hurley’s team is on the fringe of consideration, and finish the season on a three-game road trip that starts with games against the Oregon schools and ends with in-state rival Arizona.

First up is Oregon (15-12, 6-8) who enters the game on a three-game skid that saw them go 0-3 on a road trip to USC, UCLA, and Oregon State, losing by an average of 13 points. If the Sun Devils hope to stay in the NCAA Tournament conversation, they can ill afford to lose any of their remaining games, so a victory over Oregon is paramount. At 10-5 in league play, they have never really gained any traction, having not won or lost more than three in a row coming into this key road contest. In fact, since starting the season 7-0, this is only the second chance this season the Sun Devils have had at a four-game winning streak.

A look at the Pac-12 standings one would think Arizona State should have little trouble with Oregon, but the Sun Devils last two defeats have come at the hands of Washington State and Colorado, two of the conference’s also-rans, the latter having also come on the road. Here are three keys ensuring that Arizona State gets a win and stays in the bubble conversation.