The latest edition of ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s March Madness “Bracketology” and first of February placed No. 5 Arizona basketball in a No. 2 seed against UNC Asheville in the Las Vegas region.

Arizona State was listed as a “Next Four Out” squad on the bubble on Friday.

No. 1 Purdue, No. 3 Houston, No. 4 Alabama and No. 8 Kansas were placed in the top seeds of each region.

The Wildcats are 20-3 and on a five-game winning streak with back-to-back blowout victories over Washington and Oregon, respectively. The Ducks were the last team to defeat Arizona, and Tommy Lloyd’s squad responded on Thursday night led by Azuolas Tubelis’ 40 points.

If you have 2 minutes, check out some of the highlights from last night’s win#BearDown #RunWithUs pic.twitter.com/i5PnMYeOwB

— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) February 3, 2023

Among the five wins was a 58-52 victory over then-No. 5 UCLA, Arizona’s marquee triumph thus far.

ASU snapped a four-game losing streak on Thursday against Oregon State. The Sun Devils were 15-3 before the skid and sit at 16-7.

There remains opportunity to climb back into the fold, but Bobby Hurley’s bunch cannot afford another tumble.

“Happy for the guys, feel good for them because they’ve had a great season and they could get this out of their system and get back on the winning track,” Hurley said Thursday.

.@SunDevilHoops pulls away from Oregon State in the second half to snap their losing streak! 😈 pic.twitter.com/FTQObgPY9p

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 3, 2023

Both teams are back in action at home Saturday night.

Arizona hosts Oregon State, a team it defeated 86-74 on Jan. 12, at 7:30 p.m.

ASU looks for its second win of the year against Oregon at 8 p.m. on ESPN 620 AM and 98.7 FM HD-2.

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