NCAA Basketball Roundup: Duke wins rivalry clash, Gonzaga falls to Saint Mary’s

Arizona State loses to Oregon to fall to 7-6 in Pac-12 play

Nearly a month ago, Arizona State won a road trip at Oregon and Oregon State to move to 15-3 overall and 5-1 in league play. There wasn’t even a question about their NCAA Tournament aspirations, barring a complete collapse. Unfortunately for them, that’s what has happened since.

The Sun Devils had lost 5 of 6 games, with the lone victory being at home over lowly Oregon State. The latest came at home to Oregon, 75-70. The Ducks aren’t a bad loss at all and if they could find a way to sustain a winning streak, could actually get on a bubble themselves. But this is a Quad 2 defeat for ASU in a matter that has snowballed in a direction that may be difficult to get out of.

DJ Horne had 18 points on 7/17 shooting, while Frankie Collins had 13 points and six rebounds. But when both Devan and Desmond Cambridge struggle (14 points combined in the loss), Arizona State is very vulnerable to a defeat.

With a NET ranking around 60 and bad non-conference losses to both Texas Southern and San Francisco, the Sun Devils are on the wrong side of the bubble at the moment. And the next two weeks are against nothing but landmines until three road games against the top three teams in the Pac-12. If they lose another before then, they might have to win 2/3 against USC, UCLA, and Arizona.