The regular season games are down to a precious few and the Pac-12 race is now for second with Washington not a lock but holding a three-game lead with five to play.

Arizona State is in that mix for second. A top four finish means a bye in the first round of next month’s Pac-12 tournament. But the Sun Devils are still on the NCAA Tournament bubble, so the more wins the better.

The Sun Devils (17-8, 8-5) play their last home games this week with Stanford (14-11, 7-6) coming in for a Wednesday showdown and California (5-20, 0-13) following on Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena. ASU will then hit the road for the last three games.

Yes, there is a sense of urgency.

“We have tried to adopt that mindset now with every game, not because of what some guy’s bracket says but because of where we are in the season,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. 

This week’s home games are winnable but the Sun Devils have made a habit of playing to the level of the competition. They’re coming off a split of the last road trip, losing at Colorado but bouncing back for a win Saturday at Utah.

Stanford wallowed in the bottom portion of the standings for the first half of the season but has won five of its last six games. Plus, the Cardinal beat the Sun Devils on their home floor earlier this season. That in itself is reason for concern for ASU faithful.

The Cardinal boast one of the Pac-12’s premier players in 6-foot-9 senior KZ Okpala (17.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg).

“We have run into some teams when they’re playing their best basketball,” Hurley said. “Stanford is playing as well as anyone right now.”

Then there’s Cal. The Bears haven’t won a conference game yet but when the teams played earlier at Haas Pavilion, the Sun Devils were hardly stellar. They trailed at the half before sophomore point Remy Martin took over in the second and ignited the team to a victory.

Cal is only one spot behind Washington State in the standings and the Sun Devils lost to Washington State badly on their home floor less than two weeks ago. So no win is a given.

Zylan Cheatham, one of just two seniors on the ASU squad, thinks the trouble his team had against Stanford earlier is one that can be fixed.

“We had a lot of blown coverages,” he said. “We gave them a lot of points of our mistakes. We have to make sure we have a guy in front of a guy to help out so they don’t get those easy buckets.”

ASU finishes the conference season with games at Oregon, Oregon State and Arizona — all teams it beat at home the first time through conference play. ASU is 4-4 on the road, splitting all four conference road trips. It has not won both ends of a road trip since 2010 when it swept Oregon and Oregon State.

“We have to go on a streak,” Cheatham added. “And you can’t do that if you don’t take care of business in the first one so that’s our focus and our mindset.”

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-4783.  Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.

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Up Next

Arizona State men vs. Stanford, Wednesday, 7 p.m. (TV: ESPN2, Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7) — The Sun Devil are looking to avenge a loss earlier this season to the Cardinal.

Arizona vs. California, Thursday, 7 p.m. (TV: FS1) — The Wildcats look to snap a seven-game losing streak against the Bears, a team they defeated 87-65 on the road earlier this season.

Grand Canyon vs. California Baptist, Thursday 7 p.m. (TV: YurView Ch. 4, ESPN3) — GCU senior forward Michael Finike became team’s first WAC Player of the Week this season after scoring a career-high 36 points in an OT loss at Missouri-Kansas City and 22 in a rout at Chicago State. Cal Baptist has won its last four.

Arizona State women at California, Friday, 8 p.m. (TV: Pac-12 Networks) — The Sun Devils edged Cal by a single point earlier in the season and will now attempt to extend their winning streak to six game

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