Sun Devils to take on No. 22 Utah in Pac-12 Tournament finale

(Photo via Nick Karmia/WCSN)

Sun Devil women’s basketball will head to MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to play in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament one final time on Wednesday.

ASU most recently won the tournament in 2002, which happened to be the first year the then Pac-10 Conference had a postseason tournament. The Sun Devils were the No. 3 seed that year, and upset top-ranked Stanford in the championship. ASU is 16-21 overall in the Pac-12 Tournament, including three championship game appearances and five semifinal appearances.

This year, the Sun Devils (11-19, 3-15) are the No. 11 seed and will face the No. 6 seed Utah (21-9, 11-7), a team that checks in at No. 22 in the entire nation as of March 3. Wednesday’s contest will be the second of the year between the two schools, as Utah visited Tempe on Jan. 5 and handed ASU a 58-41 loss during the beginning of conference play.

In that last meeting, the Sun Devils had one of their best defensive performances of the year, limiting the potent Utes’ offense to more than 33 points below its then-average of 91.2 points per game. Senior forward Alissa Pili, Utah’s leading scorer, was held to just eight points in that game. Pili averaged 21 points per game this season, which ranks second in the Pac-12, shooting a fantastic 40% from deep and 55% from the field.

In addition to Pili, ASU will have to watch out for junior guard Kennady McQueen, who is second on the team in scoring at 10.3 points per game. McQueen is also a threat as a playmaker, averaging 3.1 assists per game, forcing defenses to think carefully about how to defend her. McQueen led Utah in points with 12 during its last contest against ASU, while also adding a team-high five assists.

Utah is just as strong defensively as it is offensively, only allowing 61.6 points per game to opposing teams. The Utes have also limited opponents to under 80 points in all but four games, all of which were against ranked teams. They also allow the second-fewest rebounds per game and force the fourth-most turnovers per game in the Pac-12, the former of which is particularly notable against a Sun Devil team that averages the second-fewest rebounds per game in the conference.

Despite its previous success, ASU will likely have a tough time replicating its defensive showing from that Jan. 5 game in Tempe, as they have allowed an average of almost 74 points per game since then. The Sun Devils have also given up 70 or more points in four of their last five games, all of which were losses.

One of the key matchups for Wednesday night’s game will be the battle at the 3-point line. Previously, ASU held Utah to just 29.4% from deep in the contest on Jan. 5, a key factor in limiting the Utes’ offensive success.

The Utes now lead the conference in 3-point shooting, sitting at 37% from deep as a team while ASU is only allowing 32.5% shooting from 3-point range. Winning in this area will likely be a point of emphasis for both teams and may be an important factor in the outcome of the game.

Offensively, the Sun Devils have been heavily reliant on their top three scorers, especially sophomore guard Jalyn Brown. Brown averaged 17.4 points per game in the regular season, good for sixth in the conference. This earned the first-year Sun Devil an All-Pac-12 honorable mention, as she has been one of the best scorers in the conference. The Utah defense may prove tough to beat with just Jalyn Brown doing well on offense, so the Sun Devils will need players like sophomore guard Trayanna Crisp and senior guard Jaddan Simmons to step up.

ASU will face an uphill battle in this final edition of the Pac-12 tournament, as Utah is among the best programs in the nation. But the Devils have shown all season long that they never quit, and a strong performance on both ends of the floor on Wednesday night could help propel them to a victory over a team they held in check earlier this year.