ASU Men’s Basketball: Graham, Sun Devils attempt to keep hot streak alive

(Photo: Nicole Hernandez/WCSN)

Coming off of its first back to back wins since December, Arizona State will look to make it three in a row when they take on Washington State on the road.

When these two teams played earlier in the season, Washington State (11-15) came away with a 91-83 road victory. However, the Cougars have not won a game since then losing their last five in a row, including a devastating 78-59 loss at home to Arizona. This definitely gives ASU (13-14) an advantage in terms of momentum, heading into this game.

In the team’s last meeting, Washington State senior forward Josh Hawkinson was absolutely dominant scoring a game-high 31 points and leading his team with 10 rebounds. He spearheaded a very efficient offensive game for the Cougars where they shot 52.6 percent from the field and that same percentage from beyond the arc.

The play of ASU senior forward Obinna Oleka will be pivotal in this rematch if the Sun Devils want to prevent Hawkinson from having another stellar performance. Lucky for Oleka, Hawkinson has not been playing well of late, scoring seven and eight points respectively in his last two games. If Oleka can make sure that Hawkinson doesn’t snap out of his cold streak, it will definitely give ASU a huge advantage in this rematch.

On the other side, the Sun Devils are hoping Torian Graham carries his hot shooting form into this game. Graham has been absolutely electric lately on the offensive end, and has been a huge contributor to ASU’s two game winning streak.

The Sun Devils have been very successful when Graham has a stellar game, going 7-3 so far this season when Graham scores at least 22 points in a game.

While ASU is just 4-5 so far this season when they play on the road, they would seemingly have the advantage in this rematch riding their recent momentum. Tip off is at 3 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.