Stanford vs Arizona State Picks and Odds (Mar. 9)

• No. 9 Stanford (15-15, 8-12 Pac-12) takes on no. 8 Arizona State (14-16, 10-10 Pac-12) Wednesday, March 9th, at 3:00 pm ET in Las Vegas in an opening round game of the Pac-12 Tournament
• The Cardinal closed out the regular season with a 65-56 loss to the Sun Devils in Tempe on Saturday and are riding a five-game losing streak entering the postseason
• See the current Stanford vs Arizona State odds, point spread, and game total, plus predictions

The #9 Stanford Cardinal (15-15, 8-12 Pac-12) — who have only played in the NCAA Tournament once since the 2007-08 season — take on the #8 Arizona State Sun Devils (14-16, 10-10 Pac-12) in an opening round game of the Pac-12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena.

Tip off is at 3:00 pm ET on the Pac-12 Network.

Stanford vs Arizona State Odds

Odds as of March 8th, 2022 at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Neither team is expected to make the Big Dance, per the latest March Madness bracket projection — so Stanford or ASU would have to win four games in Sin City to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament. ASU sits 96th in the NET Rankings, while Stanford is outside of the top 100 (108th). They are also extreme longshots in the Pac-12 Tournament odds, sitting at +4000 and +5500, respectively.

Jerod Haase’s team got 14 points each from leading scorer Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel against Sparky on Saturday, but Arizona State closed the game out  with a 14-4 run to send Stanford to its seventh loss in the final eight games.

Meantime, Bobby Hurley’s club has won four straight and seven of its last eight after the nine-point home win. Senior guard Marreon Jackson had a game-high 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals in his final home game. Junior Jalen Graham added 16 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting outing from the field.

Arizona State is 4-1 vs Stanford in Recent H2H History

These two programs split their games this season, with Stanford taking the first meeting 79-76 on Jan. 22 at home, while ASU earned a victory this weekend.

The 2021-22 campaign ended with a whimper for the Cardinal after picking up early-season wins over Oregon and USC. One bright spot for Haase is definitely Harrison Ingram.

A top-25 recruit out of the Dallas area, the versatile Ingram earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors, finishing the regular season with averages of 10.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He’s one of just two players nationally to meet those benchmarks as a true freshman

#Pac12MBB Freshman of the Year, presented by @Nextiva: Harrison Ingram. 🌲

Full release ➡️ https://t.co/HEXezff140#GoStanford | @StanfordMBB pic.twitter.com/sPdxHh9sEQ

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) March 8, 2022

He’s one of three players — along with Jones (11.0 ppg) and Jaiden Delaire (10.5 ppg) — to put up double-figures for the Cardinal. Stanford is one of the better teams in the country (ranked No. 24 by KenPom) in offensive rebounding percentage. But the Cardinal are near the bottom of Division I in other categories, like offensive turnover percentage (351st) and offensive free throw percentage (344th).

Arizona State is 7-1 ATS in Last Eight

Not only have the Sun Devils gone 7-1 straight up over their last eight games, they’ve gone 7-1 against the spread in that timeframe. Sparky’s brilliant run in ‘books even goes beyond the last month. Hurley’s group is 11-3-1 against the number over the last 15 outings. That includes a loss as a 5.5-point underdog against the Cardinal in Palo Alto.

ASU’s balanced roster possesses five player averaging double-digits, led by sophomore guard DJ Norris (12.2 ppg). This team took its lumps early — suffering non-conference defeats to San Diego State, Baylor, Syracuse and Loyola Chicago. But the Devils have gone 8-4 since the calendar flipped to February, including an 87-84 triple overtime victory against UCLA.

This is a team that earns its keep on the defensive end, rating 21st in defensive adjusted efficiency and 30th in defensive effective field goal percentage.

Stanford vs Arizona State Prediction

While ASU has knocked off Stanford in four of the last five matchups, the Cardinal have played the Sun Devils more evenly, splitting the series over the last eight games. Historically, Wednesday’s tourney lid-lifter is a virtual Pick ‘Em.

But based on more recent trends and momentum, Sparky is an easy pick in this spot.

Pick: Arizona State -4 (-110)