Photo credit: azcentral.com
By: Ana Kieu
Ah, the Stanford Cardinal didn’t get the final result that they likely hoped for in Wednesday evening’s conference game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz. But have no fear as the Cardinal prepare for another duel in the desert against the Arizona Wildcats at the McKale Center in Tuscon, Ariz. Sunday at 5:00 pm PT on ESPN2. Be there or be square.
Sad news was that the Cardinal (14-12, 7-7 Pac-12) also came off a two-game sweep at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif. against the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins on February 13th and 16th, respectively. So it was likely difficult for them to fathom a large loss 80-62 to the Sun Devils (18-8, 9-5 Pac-12), who currently hold onto a two-game win streak. Anyways, a Cardinal win over Arizona (14-12, 5-8 Pac-12) is completely feasible as the latter is three steps below them in the conference standings as well as the fact that they’re currently on a four-game losing skid. The Wildcats’ last win came on January 31st in a rivalry (and road) game against ASU.
Sure, Stanford recently suffered a loss at the hands of ASU, but there were a couple of silver linings about that miserable game. Senior center Josh Sharma and sophomore forward Oscar da Silva combined for 32 points in a losing effort for the Cardinal. It was just that ASU looked good and Stanford was unable to go on a shooting streak. Well, at least in my humble opinion. By the way, I was covering San Jose State vs. Colorado State that night. But I did check out parts of the game on my laptop. That’s better than nothing, right?
But you have to keep in mind that the Cardinal’s still without the services of their leading scorer and sophomore forward KZ Okpala, who remains day-to-day with an injury. Moreover, the Cardinal just put on a 2-of-21 shooting performance against ASU, which was downright terrible to say the least. ASU’s win evened the season series between the two schools. Stanford defeated ASU, 85-71, in the first meeting on January 19th at Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal men’s basketball Twitter tweeted out “Right back to work tomorrow. Another opportunity awaits on Sunday.” There’s a chance that they’ll rebound and pick up a win at Arizona, but until then, we’ll see how things go.
Prediction: Stanford picks up a 95-70 win over Arizona.
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