Pac-12 Tournament: ASU basketball to face Oregon State, Arizona earns bye

The field is set for the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Arizona State had a lot on the line Saturday, but an Oregon win over Stanford ended ASU’s bid to clinch a first-round bye.

The Sun Devils fell to USC, 68-63, later in the evening and dropped to the No. 6 seed in the tournament with an 11-9 conference record.

ASU will take on No. 11 seed Oregon State (11-20, 5-15) in the first round on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m.

The Sun Devils finished the year 20-11 overall, and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had them among the first four out on his Bracketology entering Saturday’s slate of games. They were No. 63 in the NET rankings.

A run next week could make the difference between the NCAA Tournament and the National Invitational Tournament for head coach Bobby Hurley’s squad.

Arizona State swept its two games against Oregon State this season, although the Beavers led both matchups at halftime.

If ASU gets past the Beavers, it will face USC again in the second round.

A win on Saturday would have netted the Sun Devils a No. 5 seed and a date with Cal for a chance to face Oregon in Round 2.

🚨 𝑩𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑬𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑹𝑻 🚨

The field for the 2023 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament is set! See you next week at @TMobileArena in @Vegas!

🎟 » https://t.co/1WwlebKMI2
📰 » https://t.co/VpcL5oUZqp#Pac12MBB | #BackThePac pic.twitter.com/RH1Nw6dRYQ

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) March 5, 2023

No. 8 Arizona entered its regular-season finale on Saturday — an 82-73 loss vs. No. 4 UCLA — locked into the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament with a bye. The Wildcats went 14-6 in conference games and 25-6 overall.

Arizona on Thursday will face the winner of 10th-seed Stanford vs. No. 7 seed Utah.

The Wildcats won the Pac-12 Tournament last year, while ASU dropped its first-round game against Stanford.

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