Arizona State women’s basketball hasn’t been this large of an underdog against Arizona in two decades.

Which sets up Sunday for a repeat of the first meeting — UA winning 65-37 Dec. 10 in Tucson — or gives ASU opportunity to salvage something from an otherwise down season that will end its school record six-year NCAA Tournament run.

No. 9 Arizona (15-3, 13-3 Pac-12) already is assured of the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament next week in Las Vegas. ASU (10-9, 5-9) will finish ninth in the regular season win or lose Sunday and open against USC or Washington State in the tournament Wednesday with the winner facing No. 1 seed Stanford on Thursday.

ASU has lost three straight rivalry games for the first time since a 14-game losing streak from 1994-2000. In the intervening 19 years, the Wildcats had just eight wins, a stretch that included the Sun Devils winning 17 out of 18. 

Now the pendulum has swung back to UA under fifth-year Adia Barnes, where it was when Barnes played for the Wildcats from 1995-98.

“We’re a better team right now,” Barnes said. “We should win the game. If we don’t then we’re not doing what we need to do. If we want to make noise in the (NCAA) tournament, we have to win games we’re supposed to.”

There is a narrow path to an upset for ASU through its defense, which is No. 33 nationally allowing 57.3 points per game, not far off UA’s No. 24/56.1. The ongoing problem for the Sun Devils is on the other side of the ball where they average just 54.3 points and are No. 330 nationally in field goal percentage (32.7).

“It’s always a different game the second time around,” ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Nine of our 11 kids, it was the first time they ever played UA. They kind of know what to expect now. I feel good about that and that we’re a little bit stronger and at full strength. Obviously our offense has been anemic and it was last time we played this team. That’s something we’ve got to rectify. But other than that, I think we’ll be ready.”

Even going into last week, ASU had not given up on hope of making the NCAA Tournament only to lose 80-41 at Stanford and 67-55 against previously winless California. Now, it’s uncertain if the Sun Devils will even try to make up any of their seven games postponed due to COVID-19 next week while at the Pac-12 Tournament or play in the 32-team WNIT if invited for the first time since 2012. 

“In the grand scheme of things, we don’t need games, we need wins,” Turner Thorne said. “We’ll evaluate it on Monday. We haven’t helped ourselves the last couple of weeks so we’ve got to think about that.”

A case can be made for ASU, with only one senior in guard Bre’yanna Sanders, to play as many games as possible for experience sake going forward. But after going 2-6 in its last eight games with just one Pac-12 win, it also might be time to turn the page and prepare for a future that includes incoming freshmen Meg Newman and Jade Melbourne and probably transfer help.

For UA, coming off a 62-48 loss to Stanford on Monday and a close 59-50 win over Cal, the challenge is not to let down and think it won’t get a full effort deserving of the rivalry from ASU.

“It’s really hard to play teams that have nothing to lose,” Barnes said. “We saw that against Cal. There is no pressure. For us, it’s not allowing that to happen, staying in the game for 40 minutes and making sure we get better.”

UA guard Aari McDonald confirmed to the Arizona Daily Star that she is leaving after this season for the WNBA, where she is projected as a first-round draft pick. She is averaging 18.8 points and scored in double figures in 84 consecutive games, the longest such streak nationally. 

McDonald scored 22 in the first game vs. ASU and forward Cate Reese 13. Barnes is seeking more scoring balance and better outside shooting, to open up room in the post for Reese and Lauren Ware.

Up next

Arizona at Arizona State, noon Sunday, Desert Financial Arena, Pac-12 Network, KDUS (1060 AM) — ASU (10-9, 5-9 Pac-12) plays its regular season finale against No. 9 Arizona (15-3, 13-3). The Wildcats are on a three-game win streak in the rivalry series for the first time since winning 14 straight from 1994-2000. They took the first meeting 65-37 on Dec. 10 in Tucson when only Taya Hanson (14 points) scored more than six for ASU. The Sun Devils were missing Iris Mbulito in that game and Maggie Besselink, now a starter, played only nine minutes. 

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-805Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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