After a tough first round game against Colorado, ASU basketball will look for revenge against UCLA in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.
A struggling UCLA squad visited Tempe and escaped with a narrow 61-59 win back on Jan 25. Since then the Bruins have gone 9-2, including a 22-point comeback win at Oregon, and have jumped into the AP’s top-25.
The team they beat to start the ascension, Arizona State, defeated Colorado in round one of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas to set up a fascinating rematch.
“You know, they were a team that knew they were better than they were and they were just not hitting shots that they would normally hit,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said of UCLA. “They’ve gone to their bench more which I think helped them. They got some veteran tough savvy upperclassmen. I feel like they are peaking now.”
UCLA has scored nearly eight more points-per-game in the 11 contests since the two teams’ last meeting than before it. Sophomore Michaela Onyenwere has gone off during the stretch, averaging nearly 21 per game. She is seventh in the Pac-12 in scoring average this season.
Senior Kennedy Burke has also improved her play towards the end of the season. She has put up 16.7 per contest since Jan 25, including 29 points during the massive win in Eugene.
Arizona State can cool the Bruins off by keeping them out of the paint. ASU has a strong interior defense and UCLA is inconsistent from beyond the arc, shooting 30 percent on the year. Where it thrives is inside and on the offensive glass.
The Bruins are the third-best offensive rebounding team in the country. Onyenwere grabs four per game alone.
ASU is a capable team on the glass and needs to ensure it does not get beat on the boards. Oregon grabbed 12 offensive rebounds in the Devils’ last loss, a stat that could have been difference in a tight game (seven points).
If ASU can control the boards, then it will be in prime position to take over the game. The Devils have been better this season from three, they turn it over less and they have a top-notch defense.
Plus, senior Courtney Ekmark and junior Robbi Ryan are coming off of highly productive performances against Colorado.
An issue for the Sun Devils could be that they had to exert more energy than anticipated against CU in round one, due to the Buffaloes’ big third quarter which brought them within three. How fatigue affects their boxing out against a fresh team can make a huge difference.
In a tournament full of comparable teams, tomorrow’s rematch between ASU and UCLA could be one of the closest. Both teams were eliminated in the semi-finals in 2018, and will be hungry to make it back.
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.