Arizona State and Stanford enter Friday’s Pac-12 opener at Palo Alto, Calif., struggling with a combined 10 losses in the nonconference portion of their schedules.
The Sun Devils (6-5) are coming off three consecutive losses, including decisive defeats against TCU 79-59 at Fort Worth, Texas, on Dec. 16 and against Northwestern 65-46 at Phoenix on Dec. 20.
Arizona State trailed Northwestern 36-13 at halftime and never recovered.
The losses against TCU and Northwestern occurred after the addition of LSU transfer Adam Miller, who gained eligibility after the NCAA relaxed its ruling of two-time transfers having to sit out a year.
Miller had six points against Northwestern, making 1 of 10 shots from the floor. He was 1 for 6 from 3-point range.
“We’re kind of melting out there,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. “As teams are coming at us, we don’t have a response. We’re not making shots, we’re missing free throws. … We’ve got to look at it and evaluate it and see what changes we need to make.”
Stanford (5-5) has lost four of its last six games, including a 74-60 setback at San Diego State on Dec. 21.
Stanford trailed 34-32 at halftime at San Diego State but fell further behind as the Aztecs shot 53.8 percent from the floor in the second half.
The Cardinal were 9 of 25 from the floor after halftime, including 1 of 11 from 3-point range.
Stanford was led by Maxime Raynaud’s 15 points. Michael Jones added 14.
The Cardinal’s 16 turnovers led to 15 points for San Diego State.
“You want to get the ball and go downhill, but if you over-penetrate, you turn your back … it’s going to be a problem,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said of the turnovers. “The phrase we use is ‘one less dribble.’ When you get to the paint, one less dribble.
“Their job then is to find the man, and we struggled with that, sometimes over-penetrating and or just under duress, maybe not being able to find the open guy for a shot.”
–Field Level Media