On Super Bowl Sunday, the rest of the sports world always seems to grind to a halt. It’s that big an event. Everything else just seems irrelevant.
In that context, it’s perhaps fitting that a college basketball game that would probably not grab a lot of attention on a normal day was one worth talking about in more detail. Arizona State got a much-needed 88-78 win at Washington State, and has an important weekend coming up.
It’s hard to find a team that was better in non-conference than the Sun Devils this time around. They beat Kansas State, Xavier, St. John’s and Kansas – all away from Tempe, though only the win over the Jayhawks was a true road game, and three of them by double digits. They didn’t lose a single game.
Then Pac-12 play got going. It’s been a little different since then.
The schedule makers were not kind to the Sun Devils to start conference play, as the first three were all on the road. They lost the first two, and since then have alternated wins and losses en route to a 5-6 conference mark.
The Sun Devils are probably not on the outside looking in as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned – yet. They don’t have a loss to a team with an RPI that has three digits, a fact which along with the wins they have adds up to a team with a pretty good profile. But it also means they can’t rest on their laurels, either.
Next weekend, they are back home and welcome USC and UCLA. This is a chance for them to finally get a little momentum going in conference play, although not their first one. They have won on the road twice ahead of a home weekend, and then proceeded to lose the first one after that. And as USC has gotten their act together in Pac-12 play, this one poses another challenge.
The Sun Devils will also have to avoid a bad loss, and there will be at least two such opportunities the rest of the way as Oregon State and Cal both have RPIs closer to 200 than 100. Oregon and Stanford could drop as well, meaning those losses become bigger hits, and there’s also the Pac-12 Tournament.
The best thing the Sun Devils can do to this end is improve at the defensive end. Opponents in conference play are shooting nearly 45 percent from the field, and they are getting out-rebounded as well. This was a problem in non-conference play, but the offense was so good then that it didn’t come back to haunt them. But in Pac-12 play, they are shooting just 42 percent from the field, so they haven’t been able to bail out bad defense with great offense.
So on a slow day of college basketball action, Arizona State got a win they needed. But what they need even more is to use this to translate into another win or two right behind it, something they haven’t been able to do since Pac-12 play began.
Side Dishes
Ohio State suspended Kam Williams on for a violation of team rules, and it’s not clear when he might return. The fifth-year senior is averaging eight points a game and starts, so this is not a small loss. The Buckeyes took care of business all the same, beating Illinois 75-67 in Columbus to go to 11-1 in the Big Ten.
The games on the day offered no major surprises, although Temple‘s 83-76 win at Tulane improves them to 5-6 in American Athletic Conference play. The Owls have not had a banner year by any stretch, but they may be hitting their stride just in time now.
Tonight’s Menu
Another light Monday is on tap overall, and that includes with matchups of note as the best appear to be among the later ones.
- Syracuse goes to Louisville in ACC action, and the Orange could really use a win here (7 p.m.)
- Rutgers hosts Indiana in a Big Ten battle (7 p.m.)
- Bethune-Cookman hosts Norfolk State in what may be the best of a full MEAC slate (7:30 p.m.)
- West Virginia stopped the bleeding on Saturday, and now they visit an Oklahoma team fresh off a loss to Texas (9 p.m.)
