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ASU Basketball: Women Draw No. 8 Seed in Stockton Region

By Sam Ficarro

Jan 3, 2016; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne is presented with an award marking her 400th career win during the first half of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Wells-Fargo Arena. The Wildcats won 94-82. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 3, 2016; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne is presented with an award marking her 400th career win during the first half of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Wells-Fargo Arena. The Wildcats won 94-82. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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ASU basketball women’s team was selected as the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. ASU will travel to Columbia, SC to face No. 9 Michigan State Friday.

ASU basketball women’s team found out their NCAA Tournament fate Monday as they were named the No. 8 seed in the Stockton Region.

The Sun Devils will face the No. 9 seed Michigan State Friday in Columbia, South Carolina.

Arizona State looking to go deep in the NCAA Tournament after losing in the second round last season.

ASU is heading into the NCAA Tournament just like they did last year with over a week off after falling in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament.

The Sun Devils will look to build off some positives from the Pac-12 Tournament after shooting the ball well from the field and receiving strong bench production in Seattle.

Arizona State’s opponent, Michigan State, is a Big Ten at-large finishing the season 21-11.

The Spartans went 9-7 in conference play finishing in sixth place and most recently fell to Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals 100-89.

Michigan State is led by senior guard Tori Jankoska who’s averaging 22.5 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game and 4.9 assists per game.

Jankoska is the main contributor for the Spartans as guard Branndais Agee is the only other player averaging double-digit points (10.1 PPG).

Michigan State finished the season sixth in the Big Ten in scoring offense (73.8 PPG) and eighth in scoring defense (66.7 PPG).

In contrast, Arizona State finished last in the Pac-12 in scoring offense (63.8 PPG) and third in scoring defense with (57.3 PPG).

Those numbers are a bit skewed for the Sun Devils considering they have not been fully healthy since early December.

Arizona State is fully healthy now with the return of forwards Kelsey Moos and Jamie Ruden.

In two Pac-12 Tournament games, Arizona State scored 72 and 77 points versus Utah and UCLA respectively.

This game will come down to whether the Sun Devils can limit Jankoska and if ASU can shoot effectively from the field.

The winner of this game will face the winner of No. 1 South Carolina versus No. 16 UNC Asheville Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Next: ASU Basketball: Poor First Quarter Dooms Devils in Seattle

Tip-off of Arizona State-Michigan State will be at 4:30 p.m. PST on ESPN2 and streamed live on WatchESPN.