LAS VEGAS — ASU is set to face Stanford in the second round of the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday.
The No. 6 Cardinal (20-11, 10-8 Pac-12) defeated No. 11 Washington State 74-63 in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday. Cardinal junior point guard Chasson Randle added 22 points while senior forward Dwight Powell had 16 points. Stanford shot 59 percent against the Huskies but turned the ball over 11 times.
The No. 3 Sun Devils (21-10, 10-8 Pac-12) were one of four teams to have a first-round bye Wednesday. Playing back-to-back could be a factor for the Cardinal, as Randle, Powell, senior forward Josh Huestis and redshirt junior wing Anthony Brown all played more than 30 minutes Wednesday.
This marks the third-straight time the two schools have faced each other in the conference tournament. ASU defeated Stanford 89-88 in overtime in the first round of last year’s tournament.
Thursday will be the third time ASU and Stanford will face each other this season. The Cardinal won the first game in Palo Alto, Calif., 76-70 on Feb. 1 with ASU taking the second game in Tempe 76-64 on Feb. 26.
After the game, Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins wasted no time shifting his focus toward ASU.
“(ASU is) a very quick team,” Dawkins said. “They want to play up tempo, and they have a very fast guard (ASU redshirt sophomore point guard Jahii Carson) and they've chosen to play that way. But for us, we're going to play our system and try to execute, try to lock in defense and focus on every possession.”
The winner of Thursday’s game will move on to face the winner of the preceding game between No. 7 Oregon and No. 2 UCLA in the semifinal on Friday.
Reach the reporter at jnacion@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Josh_Nacion
