Crunch Time Continues as Oregon Hits the Road Against Arizona State

The Ducks look for their first win against ASU since last year’s Pac-12 Tournament.

The Oregon Ducks will take a two-game business trip to Arizona, starting off with a game against the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Every game is crucial now for the Ducks, who have been seesawing in and out of Joe Lunardi’s “Bracketology” projections. Lunardi currently lists the Ducks as the last team to make it into the NCAA Tournament after their 62-59 win over Washington State on Monday.

A win is a win, but Oregon wasn’t very convincing in its win over Washington State. Will Richardson’s three-pointer was the only bucket Oregon made for the last two and a half minutes of the game.

Oregon Ducks vs. Washington State Cougars (2/14/22)

Will Richardson

Rivaldo Soares

Washington State’s Michael Flowers scored seven points by himself in that time. Flowers connected on two three-pointers, but missed the third that would have tied the game at 62 with three seconds left.

Despite the late scare, the win was significant for Oregon in the Pac-12 standings. Oregon took full control of third place in the conference after the win and No. 13 UCLA’s loss to crosstown rival No. 17 USC.

Oregon and USC both have conference records of 10-4, but the Trojans' 21-4 overall record gives them the slight advantage over Oregon (17-8) in the standings.

Out of the final six opponents Oregon will face to close out the regular season, Arizona State is the only team in the bottom half of the Pac-12. But sleeping on Arizona State has proven deadly this season.

The Sun Devils already took out the Ducks in a 69-67 overtime battle at Matthew Knight Arena back in December. More recently, the Sun Devils took out then-No. 3 UCLA 87-84 in a triple OT thriller on Feb. 5.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Sun Devils. ASU is currently 4-9 in conference play, which is good for ninth place. The Sun Devils rank dead last in scoring offense in the conference, averaging 63.9 points a game, and second-to-last in scoring margin at -6.1.

Arizona State’s only route to the Big Dance in March is by winning the Pac-12 Tournament thanks to its poor record. But the Sun Devils have shown how dangerous they are against the best in the Pac.

All signs point to Thursday’s match between Oregon and Arizona State being a trap game – or a game where the higher-ranked team is expected to win, but ends up losing to a lesser opponent. And one more loss will all but kill Oregon’s hopes at an at-large bid to the tournament.

In the first meeting of the two squads, it was three-pointers that made the difference. The Ducks shot a measly 18.2% from downtown in the game, while the Sun Devils hit eight three-pointers, including the game-winner from Jay Heath.

The Ducks of late, however, have been much more focused on their inside game. In their last game against Washington State, Oregon scored 34 points in the paint. N’Faly Dante scored a team-high 13 points while Franck Kepnang added 9 points of his own.

After the Arizona State game, Oregon will travel across the state for one of its toughest tests of the season against No. 3 Arizona.

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