Game Notes for WBB’s Pac-12 Tournament Opener vs. Utah
THE EVENT: Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament / First Round
THE GAME: Sun Devil WBB (11-19, 3-15 Pac-12) vs. No. 22 Utah (21-9, 11-7 Pac-12)
WHEN: Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. MST
WHERE: MGM Grand Garden Arena • Las Vegas, Nev.
WATCH: Pac-12 Networks
RADIO: KDUS AM 1060
LIVE STATS: Click here
PURCHASE TICKETS: Click here
UP NEXT
The Sun Devil women's basketball team will open play in the final Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. MST/8:30 p.m. PST) / Pac-12 Network) when it faces Utah in the last of four first round games at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Sun Devils (No. 11 seed / 11-19, 3-15 Pac-12) will be taking on Utah (No. 6 seed / 21-9, 11-7) for the second time this season. The two teams met in the first game of the 2024 calendar year; a contest won by the Utes 58-41 in Tempe on Jan. 5.
The Utes came into the game ranked No. 5 in the nation in scoring (91.2) and the top-ranked team in the nation in field goal percentage (53.3). Although ASU did not get the win, it came through with one of its best defensive performances in limiting the Utes to what at the time was their lowest point total of the season in addition to holding them more than 33 points below their scoring average and nearly 16 percentage points below their usual shooting percentage. One Sun Devil difference maker who was missing for most of the game was sophomore guard Trayanna Crisp, currently the team's second-leading scorer. Crisp played less than five minutes against the Utes after getting injured in the first quarter.
Jalyn Brown enters the tournament averaging 19.6 points per game in her past 17 games and has been in double digits each game and is averaging 19.9 points per game against ranked opponents. Trayanna Crisp has been in double figures in 10 of past 12 games (13.6 ppg.) and in seven of the nine games against ranked opponents.
The winner of Wednesday's game will meet the No. 3 seed UCLA (24-5, 13-5) on Thursday (9:30 p.m. MST/8:30 p.m. PST) in the last of four quarterfinal games.
WATCH/LISTEN
Wednesday's game can be seen on Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy and Alyssa Charlston reporting from the sidelines). The game can also be heard on KDUS AM 1060. Veteran broadcaster and the state of Arizona's 2010 & 2019 Broadcaster of the Year – and a finalist for the 2023 award – Jeff Munn is in his 20th season as the voice of ASU women's basketball.
BROWN, SIMMONS EARN PAC-12 HONORS
Sun Devil women's basketball players Jalyn Brown and Jaddan Simmons were recognized by the Pac-12 on Tuesday as the conference announced its annual awards for the 2023-24 season as voted on by the league's head coaches.
Brown, who transferred to ASU from Louisville, was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention in her first year as a Sun Devil. Simmons, a four-year Sun Devil, earned Pac-12 All-Defense honorable mention recognition for the second straight season.
SERIES NOTES VS. UTAH
• ASU has won 11 of the last 17 meetings – or 11 of 18 counting game ASU had to forfeit at Utah last season due to not having enough healthy players. Utah has won 4 of the last 6 contests decided on the court.
• During a three-season stretch between 2018-20, the two teams played four consecutive games that were each decided by two points and a fifth in which the margin of victory was four.
• On Feb. 17, 2019, ASU pulled off the biggest comeback in school history when it scored the last 20 points of the game to erase an 18-point deficit.