Colorado, Arizona State both in mini-funks entering Big 12 play

Colorado and Arizona State enter Saturday's Big 12 opener at Tempe, Ariz., with both teams coming off consecutive losses, including humbling defeats at home in their last outings.

Colorado (10-3) lost to Stanford 77-68 in Phoenix on Dec. 20 before falling to Northern Colorado 86-81 on Sunday in Boulder.

Arizona State (9-4) followed a 90-77 loss at UCLA on Dec. 17 with a 78-75 defeat to Oregon State in Tempe on Dec. 21.

"I've got to do a better job, our staff has to do a better job and our players have to do a better job," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. "I'm not hitting the panic button. I'm just saying we're not as good as we think we are, and so we better figure it out."

Colorado reserve forward Alon Michaeli, who is averaging 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds a game, did not play against Northern Colorado because of an illness but is expected to be ready to return against Arizona State.

The Buffaloes' top scorer, Isaiah Johnson, is a reserve who averages 15.6 points with a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (30 assists, 10 turnovers) in 26.1 minutes per game.

Colorado's defense, allowing 77.4 ppg, is a concern for Boyle, who said, "We don't have anybody that wants to take pride enough and say, ‘I'm gonna shut this dude down.'"

Arizona State has quality wins over Texas and Oklahoma, but the loss to Oregon State was a significant setback inasmuch as the Beavers are a Quad 4 team with an 8-7 record.

"It's awful because no one thought anything of us," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said of the loss. "Maybe we'll win a handful of games this year. We were in a really good position to get double-figure wins here heading into conference play and fell short."

Arizona State is led by Moe Odum, who is averaging 16.2 points and 6.2 assists per game.

He has struggled over the last four games, averaging 10.3 points while shooting 13 of 42 (31.0%) from the field, including 3 of 24 from 3-point range.

--Field Level Media