Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.

ASU set to face Stanford for third time in Pac-10 Quarterfinals

ASU junior guard Jamelle McMillan passes the ball around a defender on Feb. 25 in Palo Alto. ASU beat Stanford 68-60. (Photo Courtesy of Kyle Anderson)
ASU junior guard Jamelle McMillan passes the ball around a defender on Feb. 25 in Palo Alto. ASU beat Stanford 68-60. (Photo Courtesy of Kyle Anderson)

The ASU men’s basketball team has defied odds all season long. Now it comes down to the Pac-10 Tournament to decide its postseason fate.

With a couple of wins this weekend at Staples Center, the Sun Devils will likely find themselves dancing on Selection Sunday. But first up on the docket is Stanford on Thursday, and that is all that is on their minds.

The common notion in college basketball is that it is extremely difficult to beat a team three times in one season.

That notion is what ASU (22-9, 12-6 Pac-10) faces when it will meet the Cardinal in the Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinals.

With how up-and-down every Pac-10 team has been this season, beating a team three times in one year might be considered an even bigger accomplishment this year.

“I think it has been proven that it is challenging to get any win in this league for us,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said. “Our team has to play very well. We have had two very competitive games with Stanford.”

ASU’s two wins against Stanford (13-17, 7-11 Pac-10) have been completely different games.

In their first meeting, an 88-70 ASU victory, the Sun Devils jumped out to a 37-point lead in the first half, before Stanford stormed back and cut the lead to single digits in the second half.

In the Sun Devils’ 68-60 win in Palo Alto, ASU fell behind by 11 points in the first half, and if it wasn’t for a career performance from senior center Eric Boateng, the Cardinal probably would have been victorious.

Boateng tied a Pac-10 record for most field goals without missing one the last time the two teams met, when he went 11-of-11 from the field. This season, he is a perfect 14-of-14 from the field against the Cardinal and is 19-of-20 in his career.

Those stats indicate that Stanford will key in on Boateng, but when teams do that, the senior has shown the ability to dish the ball to his teammates.

“They really flexed down to the post and he was able to find open cutters and shooters, even in that game,” Sendek said. “Certainly coming off a game like he had, you’d expect he would attract attention once again.”

On defense, ASU’s focus again will be on the talented duo of senior forward Landry Fields (a Pac-10-leading 22.2 points per game) and sophomore guard Jeremy Green (16.9 points per game).

The Sun Devils put so much focus defensively on the pair in Palo Alto that they were hurt by the Cardinal’s role players early in the first half.

“It is what you have to do,” senior guard Derek Glasser said of focusing on Fields and Green. “You have to make other guys beat you. If they have other guys that hit enough shots to beat you, then so be it. I think that is what we have done such a good job of.”

ASU has held Green to just 25.7 percent from the field, and most of his made shots came in the relentless comeback attempt in the game in Tempe.

Because the teams have already played twice, there isn’t much that either side doesn’t know about the other.

“They know what we are going to do and we know what they are going to do,” Glasser said. “It just comes down to how bad do we want it. There really are no secrets at this point. It’s just about playing hard.”

Glasser believes that the experiences that ASU had last season at the conference tournament, when it made the championship game, will carry over to this season.

“It helps knowing how hard we have to play to get to the championship game,” Glasser said. “We have a bad taste in our mouth about the Pac-10 Tournament. We are going there with a chip on our shoulder.”

Playing with that attitude is nothing new for ASU this season, as it has done that all season long.

That won’t change when the Sun Devils visit Staples Center.

“We are just a hungry team playing with a chip on our shoulder,” Glasser said. “Guys just have a lot to prove, and that is how we are playing and that is how we are going to keep playing.”

Sendek doesn’t believe that there has ever been a conference tournament so wide open in his coaching career, which makes his “take it one day at a time” philosophy even more important.

“Our guys understand that they have to take it one day at a time,” Sendek said. “You don’t get to play on Friday unless you play well on Thursday. They don’t need me to explain that to them.”

Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu


Continue supporting student journalism and donate to The State Press today.

Subscribe to Pressing Matters



×

Notice

This website uses cookies to make your experience better and easier. By using this website you consent to our use of cookies. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy.