The leaders of the Pac-12 will face off on Sunday when the No. 13 ASU women's basketball team will face No. 9 OSU in Tempe.
The two teams are very similar: they use prodigious defensive skill to out-tough and outlast opponents. They play tough throughout, typically maintaining stamina and lasting longer than their opponents.
Neither team has an extremely high-scoring, reliant offensive player. OSU relies a lot on sophomore guard Sydney Wiese, who averages 12.8 points and six assists per game. Junior center Ruth Hamblin averages 14.9 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and is coming off her Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.
That brings up another similarity: ASU has had multiple player of the week honors given to players on the team. Sophomore forward Sophie Brunner is becoming very efficient at the net for ASU with an array of solid post moves. Senior guard Promise Amukamara won Pac-12 honors the week before. She is leading the team defensively and has taken over a load on offense with her aggression.
If ASU is to win, Amukamara will be a key. She leads the ASU defense that has a 2.3 turnover margin, forcing 17.5 on average from its opponent.
OSU has a -0.9 turnover margin, giving up 14.4 per game and only getting 13.5 takeaways in each.
Their points allowed per game is close: 55.4 per for ASU, 56.4 for OSU; and the scoring margin is similar, though slightly favors OSU: 17.4 for ASU vs. 21.1 for OSU.
What stands out in OSU’s favor, though, is its late-game efforts.
ASU, though dominant in the season, has grown into a habit of playing poorly in the second half. The most recent time came against Stanford, in which the Sun Devils almost blew a 17-point halftime lead before fighting out a 60-57 victory.
OSU has come down to the wire in two games in a row. Against Washington on Friday, the Beavers fell behind by three with six minutes left. They only allowed two more points in the entire game.
Against WSU on Monday, they were trailing by as many as 16 in the second half before fighting back for a three-point victory.
Even if — particularly if — it manages to go up early, ASU will be forced to keep up the intensity against a school that’s making a name for itself across the nation.
ASU will get a game to prepare for the Beavers by facing Oregon (8-9, 1-5) on Friday morning at 11 a.m.
The Ducks have faced a tough schedule, with two of their losses against OSU and two others against the Washington universities.
With this in mind, none of the Duck’s wins have come against good teams. They defeated UCLA in-conference, and that doesn’t scream success. They average fewer points than ASU; they give up more points than ASU; they have more turnovers than ASU. Every stat points toward an ASU win.
All except junior forward Jillian Alleyne. She averages a whopping 15.1 rebounds per game, 0.1 rebound per game lower than the NCAA leader. ASU began the year with some worries over the boards, but the Sun Devils recently outrebounded Stanford by 22.
ASU will rely on Brunner and sophomore center Quinn Dornstauder to shoulder the load of rebounding on Friday. Head coach Charli Turner Thorne has said Dornstauder needs to work on boxing out, but she does have a height advantage over Alleyne.
If ASU can somewhat contain Alleyne and force someone like junior guard Lexi Petersen (35 percent shooter) into poor shots, the Sun Devils have a good chance against a sub-par team. If there is a resurgence of rebound difficulties, they could be in for a tough weekend.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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