Fans that like their college basketball on Saturdays will be thrilled with the Pac-12 home slate, as the Sun Devils for the first time since 2007-08 will have all their weekend Pac-12 contests on Saturday. ASU also gets an old-school slate in another way...every Pac-12 weekday home game is on a Thursday. The Saturday schedule includes games against Oregon State, Colorado, UCLA and Stanford.
Some other notes and tidbits on the schedule...
--ASU won't make the Los Angeles road trip this year and won't host the Washington schools, but ASU will play in Staples Center on Dec. 8 vs. St. John's in the HoopHall Classic at 5 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.
--San Diego State has averaged over 26 wins in the past four seasons, won the Mountain West Conference championship three straight years prior to last season and has been a regular in the NCAA Tournament. The Aztecs, who went 19-14 last year, will return to Tempe on Nov. 14 in a Pac-12 Network contest. It will be the second match-up between the schools since 2009-10 as ASU won in San Diego last December. ASU leads the series 17-10 as SDSU enters 2016-17 having won an average of 25 games the last 12 seasons.Be a part of the @sundevilclub ( and chat with @BobbyHurley11 over coffee ) https://t.co/csqR7hILMs @ASU_Alumni @ASUYoungAlumni pic.twitter.com/LO0CWNp4Gn
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) September 18, 2017
--Vanderbilt, a 2017 NCAA Tournament team, will be just the second SEC team to visit Wells Fargo Arena in past 23 seasons when it comes to Tempe on Dec.17 for a noon tip on Pac-12 Network. ASU topped No. 18 Texas A&M 67-54 on Dec. 5, 2015, but prior to that tilt the last SEC program to visit Tempe was Vanderbilt on Dec. 29, 1994.
v ASU will face another 2017 NCAA Tournament team at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational as the Sun Devils will play Kansas State on Thanksgiving (Nov. 23) at 4:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. MT on FS1 at Orleans Arena. ASU will then meet either Xavier or George Washington on Friday afternoon. Kansas State returns nine lettermen from a team that won 21 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five seasons. ASU and the Wildcats have met eight times, the last time an 84-80 Kansas State win the 1998 Maui Invitational.
v This season will mark the third time in four years (and ninth time since joining the Pac-12) ASU has opened the Pac-12 season against Arizona, as ASU hosted Arizona in the 2015-16 Pac-12 opener and played at Tucson in 2014-15. The Territorial Cup tilt in Tempe takes place on Thursday, Feb. 15. ASU has topped the Wildcats in three of the past six in Tempe and is 9-12 overall in the past decade. The 69-66 double-overtime Sun Devil win over No. 2 Arizona (23-1) on Feb. 14, 2014, marks the the highest ranked team the Sun Devils have topped at home.
Devilish devotion: Why Kodi Justice chose loyalty to Arizona State over grad transfer https://t.co/fgNjxUyC4L
— Michael DeCourcy (@tsnmike) August 28, 2017
v ASU hosts Oregon (Jan. 11) and Oregon State (Jan. 13) for the first time in two seasons in its first Pac-12 home series. Classes begin Jan. 8 so the 942 Crew will be there. ASU has an eight-game win streak over Oregon State in Tempe and is 10-6 vs. Oregon in Tempe since 2001 and has won five of the past eight in Tempe in the series. ASU makes the trip to the Oregon schools in late February after missing this trip in 2015-16 and getting a split in 2016-17, winning at Corvallis after losing a very close game in Eugene.
v ASU will host Utah (Jan. 25) and Colorado (Jan. 27). ASU is 4-1 vs. Colorado in Tempe (including a current four-game win streak) and 3-2 vs. the Utes. Last year Tra Holder was big-time clutch in the Colorado win, hitting two free throws to win the game.
v Pullman (Feb. 4) and Seattle (Feb. 1) have been "Even Steven" the past three years to ASU. Last year ASU won a great game in Seattle but lost in Pullman. Two years ago it was a win in Pullman but a loss in Seattle. In 2014-15, ASU lost a tough one in Pullman but bounced back with Sunday win in Seattle.
v USC (Feb. 8) and UCLA (Feb. 10) come to Tempe in early February. ASU sent the eventual Pac-12 champions Bruins home with a 78-60 loss on Jan. 26, 2013, and then ASU topped the Bruins on James Harden night a year later (Feb. 18, 2014). ASU is 9-1 vs. USC in Tempe in the past 10 meetings including a 74-67 win over #23 USC on Feb. 12, 2016 and has won five straight vs. the Trojans in Tempe. Last year ASU outscored USC 12-1 in the final three minutes for an incredible comeback win.
ASU 83, USC 82/Feb. 26, 2017
ASU 74, #23 USC 67/Feb. 12, 2016
ASU 64, USC 59/Feb. 22, 2015
ASU 98, USC 83 (OT)/Jan. 24, 2013
ASU 56, USC 52/Feb. 25, 2012
USC 63, ASU 61/Jan. 27, 2011
ASU 59, USC 54/Mar. 4, 2010
ASU 65, USC 53/Feb. 15, 2009
ASU 80, USC 66/Mar. 1, 2008
ASU 68, #22 USC 58/Feb. 18, 2007
v ASU hosts the Bay Area schools to close the season as it has topped Stanford in each of the past three seasons at home. Last year it took a pretty wild finish to get it done (12-2 to be exact). It hosts the Cardinal on Senior Day, with time and television to be set later in the year.
@SUNDEVILHOOPS 2017-18 SCHEDULE (TIMES LOCAL TO SITE) Fri., Nov. 10: Idaho State (8 p.m./Pac-12 Arizona) Tues., Nov. 14: San Diego State (7 p.m./Pac-12 Network)
CONTINENTAL TIRE INVITATIONAL Fri., Nov. 17: Northern Arizona (Continental Tire Invitational in Tempe/6 p.m./Pac-12 Arizona) Sun., Nov. 19: UC Irvine (Continental Tire Invitational in Tempe/Noon/Pac-12 Network) Thurs., Nov. 23: vs. Kansas State @Continental Tire Invitational in Las Vegas/Orleans Arena (4:30 p.m. PT/FS1) Fri., Nov. 24: vs. Xavier/George Washington @Continental Tire Invitational in Las Vegas/Orleans Arena Sat., Dec. 2: San Francisco (7 p.m./Pac-12 Network) @HOOPHALL CLASSIC AT STAPLES CENTER Fri., Dec. 8: St. John's (5 p.m. PT/Pac-12 Network) Sun., Dec. 10: at Kansas (1 p.m. CT/ESPN) Sun., Dec. 17: Vanderbilt (Noon/Pac-12 Network) Tues., Dec. 19: Longwood (7 p.m./Pac-12 Arizona) Fri., Dec. 22: Pacific (1 p.m./Pac-12 Network) PAC-12 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE Sat., Dec. 30: at Arizona (7 p.m./Pac-12 Network) Thur., Jan. 4: at Colorado (6:30 p.m./Pac-12 Network) Sun., Jan. 7: at Utah (6 p.m./ESPNU) Thur., Jan. 11: Oregon (8 p.m./FS1) Sat., Jan. 13: Oregon State (4 p.m./Pac-12 Network) Wed., Jan. 17: at Stanford (8 p.m. PT/Pac-12 Network) Sat., Jan. 20: at California (7:30 p.m. PT/Pac-12 Network) Thur., Jan. 25: Utah (7:30 p.m./Pac-12 Network) Sat., Jan. 27: Colorado (6 p.m./ESPNU) Thurs., Feb. 1: at Washington (8 p.m. PT/Pac-12 Network) Sun., Feb. 4: at Washington State (1 p.m. PT/ESPNU) Thurs, Feb. 8: USC (9 p.m./ESPN2) Sat., Feb. 10: UCLA (5 p.m./Pac-12 Network) Thur., Feb. 15: Arizona (7 p.m./ESPN2) Thur., Feb.22: at Oregon (8:30 p.m. PT/FS1) Sat., Feb. 24: at Oregon State (5 p.m. PT/ESPNU) Thur., Mar. 1: California (7 p.m./ESPN) Sat., Mar. 3: Stanford (TBD)