(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)
After winning five of its last seven games, Arizona State finished fifth in the Pac-12, four spots above its predicted finish by the Pac-12 media before the season started. With that, ASU takes on the No. 12 seed USC.
The teams will square off in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday with the winner taking on UCLA on Thursday.
In the only meeting between the teams in Tempe, ASU overcame its worst shooting performance up to that point in the season with a 14-3 run to close out the game, besting the Trojans 64-59.
The Sun Devils are riding strong play from senior forward Shaquielle McKissic, who was named Pac-12 Player of the Week following his performances against Stanford and California. McKissic averaged 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals over the two games while shooting 53.6 percent from the field.
USC has struggled its way to the basement of the conference, and it only got worse when freshman point guard Jordan McLaughlin went down after reinjuring a surgically repaired shoulder against the Oregon Ducks. Since then, the Trojans have lost four of their last six games, including losing to ASU in Tempe.
Keys to the Game
Settle in quickly
This is a contest between two teams that struggle away from home. USC is 3-11 away from the Galen Center while ASU is 2-11 when it isn’t playing in Wells Fargo Arena. Additionally, these are two relatively inexperienced teams. USC is the youngest Power 5 conference team in terms of minutes player per class, according to Statsheet.com, and ASU boasts seven players on its roster who were not there to make an NCAA Tournament bid a year ago.
That being said, settling into the post-season vibe will be a big adjustment, so it’ll be up to ASU head coach Herb Sendek and USC head coach Andy Enfield to put each other’s teams in the correct mindset.
McKissic stays aggressive
The last two games for ASU finally saw a consistently aggressive and efficient Shaquielle McKissic. Sendek has consistently mentioned how he wanted McKissic to attack the basket more often, and it resulted in the senior forward shooting above 50 percent from the field. When McKissic is in an attacking mindset, ASU’s offensive flow is distinctly smoother. He is also one of the few Sun Devils who has experience in this situation, so his leadership – along with seniors Bo Barnes and Jonathan Gilling – will be even more important for his team.
Defensive Efficiency
USC held its last four opponents to a combined 38.1 percent shooting percentage, and in its last meeting with ASU, the Trojans held ASU to 32.8 percent from the field. Defense always travels, especially in postseason play, so if the Trojans want to play the spoiler in the Pac-12, they must keep up their efforts on the defensive end while finding ways to score.
Sophomore guard Katin Reinhardt will play a big role in this game, as he was not in action in the teams’ first meeting due to a violation of team rules. However, he is averaging a team-high 12.4 points per game and shoots 37.8 percent from beyond the arc. If he gets going and USC’s defense holds true, ASU will find itself in quite the hole.
Prediction
With a whole season to digest, its pretty clear that USC is the worst team in the Pac-12, and ASU is one of the most improved over the last two months of the season. In a neutral site game, Sendek and his Sun Devils seem much more well-equipped to handle the environment in Las Vegas, and that should result in ASU advancing to play UCLA tomorrow.
You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com
