Pac-12 Tourney primer: ASU has a formula to make noise vs. Stanford and beyond

Rivalry losses always sting, but Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State squad can take quite a few positives into the postseason despite a Saturday loss to the Arizona Wildcats.

Heading into a Pac-12 Tournament that begins with a matchup against Stanford, No. 8-seeded ASU has a formula that makes it a dangerous team.

Two games ago in a wild comeback victory against USC and Saturday in a 73-60 loss to Arizona, the Sun Devils leaned on their five undersized starters pressuring ball handlers but packing the paint behind them, daring both teams to move the ball and then make shots.

While USC made due by hitting shots at a high clip and Arizona didn’t, the ASU defense turned Trojans turnovers into 27 points. Arizona State hung around in both games by playing low-turnover basketball itself and did its best keeping the opponents out of the paint despite relying on a short rotation.

The Sun Devils forced Arizona and USC to decide between taking threes off ball movement or dribbling into a thicket of hands. More often than not, both opponents opted for the former.

ASU will get its points by spacing the court and knocking down threes, but the defensive adjustments have been key to the team’s recent swagger.

Arguably, considering Hurley’s roster condition, no team in the league is getting as much out of as little as the Sun Devils.

TIME

Wednesday, 1 p.m. MST

TV

Pac-12 Network

— 2017 Pac-12 Tournament schedule and bracket —

WHAT’S HOT

Kodi Justice. The hottest stretch by the 6-foot-5 power forward with a point guard’s mindset came against three teams where he was matched up against NBA-size stretch big men from UCLA, USC and Arizona. All he’s done during that time is put up 19, 22 and 17 points, respectively, while hounding the likes of T.J. Leaf, Bennie Boatwright and Lauri Markkanen.

It was Justice and not Obinna Oleka hounding Arizona’s Markkanen on Saturday when the Wildcats went small with the Finnish forward at center to begin the second half. If that doesn’t tell you about Hurley’s trust in Justice, nothing will.

Justice has meanwhile shot 63 percent from deep — and often very deep — in the last three games while acting as the head coach on the floor, calling out defensive coverages and keeping his teammates steady.

WHAT’S NOT

It’s by design, but the Sun Devils’ man-to-man defense isn’t ideal.

To keep the starters out of foul trouble, the Sun Devils have a very hands-off approach against dribble-drives. In that, Arizona’s 39-percent shooting was misleading. ASU hounded the Wildcats on the ball but allowed UA to settle for deep, out-of-rhythm three-point attempts off ball movement. But the times Arizona’s defenders did have the inkling to drive, they often found a parting of the seas to score 34 points in the paint. Fourteen of those came off offensive boards.

With that short rotation, ASU didn’t have enough juice to come back after Arizona used a quick run to begin the second half to separate. Yet, few teams have the Wildcats’ depth.

FIRST UP: STANFORD

Arizona State won the season series against Stanford 2-0 in two different feeling games.

First was a 98-93 shootout. Then came a 75-69 victory.

The constant: Torian Graham combined to shoot 11-of-19 from three-point range, scoring 30 and 24 points, respectively.

The ninth-seeded Cardinal have lost three games in a row heading into the tournament.

EASIEST PATH

Forgetting for a second what would lie immediately ahead should ASU advance past Stanford, the rest of the bracket looks favorable. If ASU were to make the semifinals, it could play No. 4 seed Utah, a team the Sun Devils fell to, 88-82, in their single game this year, or the winner between first-round matchup No. 12 seed Oregon State and floundering Cal, which lost five of its last six games of the year.

About that easiest path: it’s the No. 1 seed Oregon Ducks who await the Sun Devils should they beat Stanford.

Do remember, however, that ASU nearly knocked off the Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena, falling 81-80 on Feb. 3 behind 28 points from Shannon Evans.

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