Both teams believe they have their opponent right where they want them when Arizona State visits Washington on Thursday night in Pacific-12 play in Seattle.
The Sun Devils (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12) are coming off consecutive losses to UCLA and Southern California. But those setbacks came at where they have been most vulnerable in Pac-12 play – at home.
Arizona State has yet to lose on the road in conference games, including a sweep of the Oregon schools on their last trip north two weeks ago.
All told, the Sun Devils are 3-0 on the Pac-12 road, but just 3-3 at home.
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley wants his team looking forward, not back at its losses to the Los Angeles schools.
“I’m keeping everything in perspective,” Hurley said. “We’ve still put ourselves in a strong position. We just have to put ourselves back out there and start winning games again.”
The Sun Devils’ most recent home win came at the hands of Washington, a tightly contested, 73-65 victory in which Jamiya Neal made a key contribution off the bench with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Keion Brooks countered with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double in defeat, but couldn’t prevent one of four losses the Huskies (12-9, 4-6) have endured in five conference road games this season.
However, Washington has a winning Pac-12 record at home (3-2), including a sweep of Stanford and California the last time the Huskies played in Seattle.
Washington is coming off a road split, following up an impressive win at Colorado with a poor performance in an 86-61 shellacking at Utah that had coach Mike Hopkins challenging his guys to look in the mirror.
“This is all about us,” he said. “We just have to fight and get better. That’s all you can do.”
Washington enjoyed one of its best outings of the season last February when the Sun Devils came to town, running up an 87-64 victory.
–Field Level Media
