One of hardest tasks in sports is beating a conference opponent twice. The Sun Devils have a chance to do just that.
The ASU women’s basketball team (15-7, 6-5 Pac-12) travels to face Utah and Colorado this weekend. ASU swept these opponents when they visited Tempe last month.
Freshman forward Jada Blackwell said a repeat is just what the team needs after losing two straight games.
“It’s redemption weekend,” Blackwell said. “We don’t want to split. We just want to beat both teams.”
Two victories would not only boost team morale, but also set the Sun Devils up for future success.
Sophomore guard Adrianne Thomas said the team’s upcoming games have huge implications.
“It’s really important that we do get these wins because usually (the) teams that do make it to the NCAA tournament have at least twenty wins,” Thomas said.
The Sun Devils first take on the Utah Utes (10-12, 3-8 Pac-12) in Salt Lake City.
ASU beat Utah in a close matchup when they played in Tempe.
Thomas said she knows the Utes are going to try to protect their home court and play better than the last time the teams met.
The last time ASU and Utah faced each other, Utah senior guard Janita Badon had an impressive game.
She finished with 12 points and eight assists.
Coach Joseph Anders said his team would focus on shutting her down Thursday.
“The point guard, Badon, really played well,” Anders said. “We got to do a better job in this one of corralling her and not letting her have layups.”
Against Colorado (15-7, 4-7 Pac-12), the Sun Devils had one of their best defensive performances of the year.
They held the Buffaloes to nine points in the first half and Colorado only shot 33.3 percent the entire game.
The Sun Devils are hoping to have another incredible defensive performance against the Buffaloes.
“We will see what happens,” Blackwell said. “We’re definitely going to go out as strong as we did and try and keep them below eleven again like we did (in the last) first half.”
ASU contained CU’s offensive force, junior guard Chucky Jeffery, the last time they played.
She finished the game with only nine points.
Anders said facing Badon and Jeffery will a good defensive test for ASU’s guards.
“We’ve got to get back to our perimeter defense setting the tone for our defense,” Anders said. “If we can do that … it should be a fun weekend for us.”
Last weekend, the Sun Devils lost the rebounding battle in losses to Stanford and Cal.
This week in practice, Anders said the team did some intense drills to try and improve their rebounding numbers.
ASU faces another challenge on the boards this weekend against Utah and Colorado.
Utah is ranked No. 7 in conference rebounding margin and Colorado is fourth.
Blackwell said this weekend is a chance for the post players to prove themselves on the boards, but Thomas said the guards can also have a strong impact on the rebounding battle.
“How guards can help is to just box out the shooters,” Thomas said. “Usually shooting from long range is going to be a long rebound. We’re really trying to emphasize on getting physical and actually physically boxing out people.”
Reach the reporter at ehubbard@asu.edu
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