Arizona State can pull off a season sweep against Utah when the two teams square off in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
The Sun Devils edged the Utes 64-62 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day behind Jalen Graham’s game-winning basket. In a game that saw 16 lead changes and eight ties, Arizona State prevailed by dominating in the paint and forcing turnovers. The Sun Devils totaled 21 points off of 14 turnovers and outscored Utah 36-22 in the paint.
Arizona State (11-16, 7-10 Pac-12) embarks on its final Pac-12 regular-season road game with tons of momentum. The Sun Devils have won four of their last five league contests, including an 82-65 triumph over Colorado in Boulder on Thursday. Arizona State led by as many as 26 points and held the Buffaloes without a basket for nearly eight minutes bridging the two halves.
“We know where we stand in terms of our prospects for the postseason,” Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley said. “We played really well the past four weeks. We think we have a chance to make some things happen in Vegas and to do that, we have to play at a really high level because that’s our only route to the postseason. We are using these last two weeks to get the ball rolling.”
Utah (11-17, 4-14) saw a two-game winning streak snapped with a 97-77 loss to No. 2 Arizona on Thursday night. The Utes were overwhelmed by a potent Wildcats’ offense just before halftime.
After Utah took a 28-27 lead on a free throw from Marco Anthony, Arizona outscored the Utes 26-5 over the final six-plus minutes of the first half. Kerr Kriisa was seemingly unconscious from 3-point range and hit 7 of 8 from outside the arc — capped by a buzzer-beater from half-court — to give the Wildcats a 53-33 halftime lead.
Utah never drew closer than 17 points in the second half.
“Obviously a tough night for us,” Utes coach Craig Smith said. “But I thought we did some good things, just obviously not enough. You play a team like this, they are ranked No. 2 in the country for a reason. They do it all.”
The Utes are searching for just their third home victory in Pac-12 play in nine tries this season and their first since an 84-59 triumph over Oregon State on Feb. 3.
–Field Level Media
