College basketball look ahead: Arizona State, Arizona men head to Bay area
The Arizona State men's basketball team has lost five of six games and the postseason hopes are on life support. It is headed on the road this week for Pac-12 play but the consolation is the Sun Devils (16-8, 7-6) will be playing opponents who have not exactly thrived.
ASU will visit Maples Pavilion for an 8 p.m. game on Thursday against Stanford (10-13, 4-8). Then it is over to Berkeley for a 6 p.m. game against California (3-20, 2-10) on Saturday.
Coach Bobby Hurley's team split home games against the Oregon schools last week. At one point it was 6-1 and sitting second in the Pac-12 behind UCLA and comfortably in the NCAA field but now the Sun Devils are sixth and in need of a win streak to keep its hopes alive.
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ASU has played Stanford once this season, winning 68-64 at Desert Financial Arena. In that game Desmond Cambridge Jr. tallied 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals.
Stanford lost its first five conference games but then won five in a row, although one was a non-conference game. However, the team is coming off an 84-62 loss to Colorado on Sunday.
Stanford, one of the larger teams in the conference, is led by 6-foot-7 senior forward Spencer Jones (13.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg).
Arizona men look to maintain spot
The Arizona men are ranked No. 4 nationally and in search of a No. 1 seed come tournament time. The Wildcats will play the same foes in reverse order with a 9 p.m. game against Cal on Thursday at Haas Pavilion, then a 6 p.m. contest at Stanford on Saturday.
The first game will air on Pac-12 Network with the second to be seen on ESPN2.
Azuolas Tubelis has led the Wildcats, earning Pac-12 Player of the Week honors this week after tallying 40 points and nine rebounds in a 91-76 win over Oregon and 19 points and eight rebounds in an 84-52 trashing of Oregon State.
Arizona, ASU women return home
The Arizona women (18-5, 8-4), coached by Adia Barnes, have a huge game coming up, hosting Stanford (22-3, 10-2) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at McKale Center with the game airing on ESPN.
The Wildcats had a successful trip to Los Angeles last week, beating UCLA 71-66 and USC 81-75, both in overtime. Cate Reese scored 33 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the latter win.
When Arizona faced Stanford earlier this season at Maples Pavilion, Stanford prevailed 73-57.
Stanford had been ranked No. 2 nationally but was upset by Washington 72-67 on Sunday.
Arizona will remain at home for a noon game on Sunday against California.
Meanwhile Arizona State (7-14, 0-12) remains in search of its first Pac-12 win. The Sun Devils will host California at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Sun Devils dropped a game to Cal earlier this season 74-61.
ASU will then host Stanford at noon on Sunday.
Grand Canyon to face rival
The Grand Canyon men will be facing a team that has become a rival since it moved to the Division I level. The Lopes (15-8, 6-4) next take the court at 7 p.m on Wednesday at GCU Arena against New Mexico State.
Their other game this week comes at 8 p.m. Saturday when Seattle University provides the opposition in an 8 p.m. game in Seattle.
GCU currently sits sixth in the WAC with Utah Valley leading the pack.
New Mexico State (9-14, 2-9) is having an uncharacteristic losing season and sits last.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: College basketball look ahead: Arizona State, Arizona men head to Bay area
