Arizona State and Washington enter their game Sunday at Tempe, Ariz., each coming off performances that provide them confidence even though the Huskies are coming off a loss.
Washington (9-7, 1-4 Pac-12) led No. 5 Arizona for nearly 29 minutes, outrebounded the Wildcats 42-41 and held the Wildcats to 18 points below their scoring average in the 70-67 loss on Thursday.
“We looked like us,” Washington coach Mike Hopkins said. “We’re big, long and athletic. That’s what we have to be, that best version of us, to win these games.”
The Huskies are on a four-game losing streak with an average margin of defeat of 16 points.
The bounce-back performance against Arizona, after losing 74-49 at home to UCLA in their previous game last week, prompted Hopkins to say the Huskies “stopped the bleeding.”
Keion Brooks Jr. had 16 points and nine rebounds against Arizona. Cole Bajema made 6 of 11 shots (3-for-6 from 3-point range) and finished with 16 points.
Arizona State (12-3, 3-1) defeated visiting Washington State 77-71 on Thursday in its first game since losing at home against Arizona on New Year’s Eve. In the previous game, while ranked No. 25 at the time, the Sun Devils were blown out at San Francisco, 97-60, on Dec. 21.
Warren Washington made his first eight shots and was 9-for-10 overall to finish with 18 points against Washington State. It matched his season high for Arizona State since transferring from Nevada before this season.
The Sun Devils shot 55.4 percent from the field, its seventh-best shooting percentage in a Pac-12 game under coach Bobby Hurley, who is in his eighth season.
“It’s as good as we’ve played offensively and I think it could have been a little better,” Hurley said. “I think we had a couple of good looks throughout the course of the game. A lot of good stuff on the offensive end.
“It’s good to get back to the feeling of winning a basketball game after having two tough losses.”
–Field Level Media