Arizona State, Stanford search for rhythm in desert duel

The Arizona State Sun Devils host the Stanford Cardinal on Thursday in Tempe, Ariz., with both teams trying to find momentum.

Stanford (10-9, 5-4 Pac-12) has gone 5-3 since losing to the Sun Devils 76-73 on Dec. 29 after holding a 12-point lead in the second half.

The Cardinal led ASU for all but the last 31 seconds of that game.

The Sun Devils (11-9, 5-4) are 4-4 since the first meeting, including losing four of their past five games.

Arizona State was swept by Oregon and Oregon State last week, losing each game by double digits.

The Sun Devils are 8-1 at home but 3-8 away from Tempe.

Arizona State made 3 of 26 shot attempts from 3-point range in its most recent game against Oregon State, hitting only 35 percent overall from the field.

"We can talk about will and determination all we want, but man, we gotta make shots," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said, adding that two of his team's three successful 3-pointers occurred after the Beavers put the game out of reach.

Arizona State was 1 of 24 from beyond the arc before that.

"That's insanely bad shooting," Hurley said.

Jose Perez led Arizona State with 19 points, including making all nine of his free-throw attempts.

The Sun Devils allowed Oregon State to shoot 56.5 percent from the field.

Stanford lost at California 73-71 in its most recent game a week ago, again squandering a double-digit lead in the second half.

The Cardinal did not make a field goal in the last 3:10 and converted only one of their last 11 shots from the field.

"At the end of the day, they did a nice job making enough plays, making enough free throws, and we didn't finish the plays that we needed to down the stretch to get the job done," Stanford coach Jerod Haase said.

Spencer Jones led Stanford with 13 points and three rebounds.

—Field Level Media