Question: What’s maroon and gold, surrounded by cacti and tied for second place in the Pacific-10 Conference?
Arizona State, that is.
The Sun Devils (16-6 overall, 7-4 Pac-10) host Oregon tonight at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz., only three weeks after they put a thorough hurt on the Ducks.
In that game, Arizona State dominated the boards en route to an 86-72 win at McArthur Court. Senior guard Amanda Levens, despite being sidelined early after an injury, burned Oregon (12-8, 7-4) for 22 points on the strength of her feisty play.
“That game was all about effort,” Oregon senior guard Edniesha Curry said. “If you let a team as good as Arizona State get comfortable, you’re going to have a hard time coming back.”
This time around, however, the Sun Devils are fighting back injuries to key players. Levens suffered a high ankle sprain against Washington State on Jan. 12 but is expected to play.
Freshman guard Carrie Buckner missed recent games against Stanford and California due to a pulled hamstring but is also expected to play tonight.
“Everybody has times during the season where we’re down a player, and we’re at that point,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We’ve not been healthy and had a lot of road games. I think we’ve done a good job of playing through that.”
After starting out the Pac-10 season strong, the Sun Devils have lost two of their last three games, putting them in the four-way tie for second place. Arizona State has stayed afloat, but not by much, losing by 19 to USC and winning a charity game against California before being out-played against Stanford last week.
The Ducks, on the other hand, are a different story. Their loss to the Sun Devils on Jan. 6 put them back in the pack at 4-2, and they lost two of their next three after the Arizona State debacle.
Oregon has fought back and now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Turner Thorne’s squad.
“I think it makes us hungrier and realize that we’re right in the thick of things,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said about Oregon’s tie with Arizona State in the standings. “They have the same number of wins (in Pac-10 play) as we do, regardless of the fact that they smoked us.”
Oregon has become a different team since their early loss in Eugene. The team’s rebounding has picked up, and after their shooting disappeared against Oregon State, the Ducks are back on target.
Curry has sparked the Oregon defense to play its best, and as usual, junior Shaquala Williams has led the Ducks in shooting and intensity.
“I think we’re a different and better team (than our first meeting), and certainly they probably are as well,” Smith said. “I feel we’re playing much better than we were when they came here, now we have to take it on the floor and prove it.
“It’s a big, big game. We just want to get on the floor.”
Curry said, “We’re going to have to play well defensively and be disciplined for 40 minutes.”
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in the Valley of the Sun.